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Attempt To Seize Power In Venezuela? Machado Meets Trump, Gives Nobel Trophy
Machado Meets Trump, Presents Nobel Trophy: How Venezuelan Opposition Leader Is Playing The Power Game To Take Control Of Nation
Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado met US President Donald Trump amid political upheaval in her homeland, offering the Nobel Peace Prize she won last year and explaining her vision for Venezuela's transition.
Venezuelan Leadership Power Struggle: Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado drew attention once again this week when she left Washington, D.C. after meeting with US President Donald Trump. In a brief interaction with journalists, she said she had “presented the president of the United States the medal of the Nobel Peace Prize”. It is not clear if Trump accepted it.
The Nobel Peace Prize committee has previously clarified that the award and its title “cannot be revoked, shared or transferred to others”.
Machado's visit comes during a whirlwind of political developments in Venezuela. After leaving the White House, she addressed supporters and the media, saying, “Know that we are counting on President Trump for the freedom of Venezuela.”
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White House officials declined to comment on a timeline for possible elections in Venezuela. Spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said the topic “was not an anticipated discussion” during the meeting with Machado.
“I am not sure the president is going into the meeting with expectations like you just laid out. I don't think he needs to hear anything from Ms Machado. I think, generally, this is a meeting that the president was willing to take, was willing to accept, to meet Ms Machado in person and to just have a frank and positive discussion about what is taking place in Venezuela,” she told reporters ahead of the meeting.
She described Machado as a “remarkable and brave voice”, while emphasising the Trump administration's satisfaction with Rodriguez, who assumed the interim presidency following the US-led bombing of Caracas and capture of Maduro.
“The president looks forward to, obviously, talking to her (Machado) about the realities on the ground in the country and what is taking place,” Leavitt said.
She added that the interim government has been “extremely cooperative” and “thus far, met all the requests and demands of the president of the United States”.
Machado has long argued that the Opposition has a “mandate” to replace Maduro. Since the US military operation on January 3, she has maintained a prominent public profile. Earlier this week, she met Pope Leo at the Vatican and later held discussions with Trump in Washington. Throughout this period, she has given interviews to CBS, Fox News and Venezuelan media outlet La Patilla.
But experts caution that her exact role is uncertain. While Machado rallied strong support during the 2024 presidential election, the present political situation has changed. She has the legitimacy from crushing the regime two years ago, but it is not two years ago. He influence now seems more “medium to long term”.
Machado, 58, emerged from months in hiding following the 2024 election due to fears of arrest. She later travelled abroad to accept the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize for her efforts to advance Venezuelan democracy. Despite being viewed as a likely successor to Maduro, Trump's announcement of the US military operation sidelined her from leadership prospects, favoring Rodriguez instead.
“I think it would be very tough for her to be the leader. She does not have the support within or the respect within the country,” Trump said shortly after the operation.
Rodriguez has since been sworn in as interim president, with the US president praising her willingness to “do what we think is necessary to make Venezuela great again”.
Maduro, accused of human rights abuses, faces charges along with his wife Cilia Flores for alleged involvement in drug trafficking to the United States. Trump's intervention has delighted many Venezuelans in exile but raised concerns about respect for Venezuelan sovereignty.
Experts say the Trump administration basically bet on what they consider to be the most stable transition possible. They think that they can convince the same members of the Maduro regime to dismantle themselves.
Machado's statement after the US operation reaffirmed her readiness to take control. “The hour has arrived for popular sovereignty and national sovereignty to rule in our country. We are ready to make our mandate count, and to take power,” she wrote on X.
The daughter of a steel magnate, she has spent her career opposing Maduro. She founded an election-monitoring organisation and served in the National Assembly before being expelled by Maduro's government. She was initially a frontrunner in the 2024 presidential race, winning 92 percent of the opposition primary, but was later barred from running due to allegations of fiscal violations.
She endorsed Edmundo Gonzalez in the election, which opposition data suggests he won overwhelmingly.
Machado told CBS last week, “We got a mandate, very strong and very clear, through the primary process in October 2023, but we won an election in 2024 by a landslide. So there is a mandate there. We have a president-elect, who is Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia, and we are ready and willing to serve our people as we have been mandated.”
Despite this, the opposition takeover has not so far materialised. Analysts cite factors such as US intelligence concerns and potential military resistance within Venezuela. Experts say that Machado's overall popularity has not been seriously questioned, but they caution that it is unclear whether institutions in Venezuela, especially the military, would support an opposition‑led government.
She has faced criticism for her hardline politics and alliances with leaders like Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Rumors also circulated that Machado's Nobel Peace Prize win in 2025 may have complicated her relationship with Trump. She had earlier offered to share the medal, but the Nobel committee confirmed the award cannot be transferred.
Back in Venezuela, Machado continues to enjoy support of the exile community, and analysts say that she is widely admired there for her courage and the way she has taken risks that few others would take. They say that many people may disagree with some of her positions, but almost no one questions her bravery or her ability to draw and energise crowds.
They also suggest that if she were given a chance to mobilise people politically without constant pressure from Venezuela's security forces, she could regain control of her own political future and build momentum on the ground.
Machado has also cultivated a pro-Israel stance, pledging in 2020 to move Venezuela's embassy to Jerusalem and signing a cooperation pact with Netanyahu's Likud Party. After receiving the Nobel Peace Prize, she praised Israel, linking her struggle against Maduro with Israel's conflicts in the Middle East.
“This alignment underscores the global nature of the struggle between freedom and authoritarianism,” she wrote on X.
Meanwhile, Interim President Delcy Rodriguez told Venezuela's National Assembly that she is proposing changes to the country's energy laws to open up the oil market to more foreign investment, a demand that aligns with priorities of the Trump administration.
She explained that the changes would “allow these investment flows to be incorporated into new fields, fields where no investment has ever been made and into fields where there is no infrastructure”.
Source: ZeeNews
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