Trump's harsh statement towards the opposition leader in Venezuela, recently awarded the Nobel Peace Prize
Maria Corina Machado. Photo: Ariana Cubillos / AP / Profimedia
US President Donald Trump had no words of support for the leader of the opposition in Venezuela after the military operation by which the US captured the leader Nicolas Maduro right in the capital Caracas.
Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado, recently awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, sent a first public message on Saturday in reaction to the US military actions in Venezuela, which culminated in the capture of autocratic President Nicolas Maduro.
“They do not enjoy respect in the country”
During the press conference at Mar-a-Lago in which he gave details about the US military operation, Donald Trump was asked whether or not he would support the Venezuelan opposition and leader Machado.
“I think it would be very difficult for her to be a leader. She doesn't have support or respect in the country. She's a very nice woman, but she doesn't have respect,” Trump said.
“Venezuelans, the hour of freedom has arrived.” The first message sent by the leader of the opposition
“Venezuelans, the hour of freedom has arrived,” Machado wrote on X, accompanying the posts with a written and read statement.
In the statement, she says Maduro was ousted from power after he refused to negotiate a departure.
Also, according to Machado, the opposition candidate for the 2024 presidential elections, Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia, currently in exile in Spain, must “immediately assume” the presidency.
She also states that the opposition will restore order in the country and release the political prisoners.
who is María Corina Machado
María Corina Machado, 58, announced her candidacy for the presidency in Venezuela's elections last year. But the authorities forbade her to run, and she then decided to support the alternative candidate of the opposition, Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia. The Maduro regime claimed victory in the presidential election and tightened its grip on power, violently cracking down on protests that followed the presidential vote.
Opinion polls before the election showed that Urrutia would get around 65% of the vote, while Maduro was rated at just over 30%. The United States, the EU and other countries have not recognized the victory claimed by Nicolas Maduro.
The Venezuelan opposition mobilized on a large scale and gathered systematic documentation proving that Urrutia had been the real winner of the election. He fled to Spain in exile, while Machado remained in Venezuela, hiding from Maduro's forces.
The Norwegian Nobel Committee announced on October 10 that it had decided to award the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize to Maria Corina Machado “for her tireless work promoting the democratic rights of the Venezuelan people and her struggle to achieve a just and peaceful transition from dictatorship to democracy.”
Machado and Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia also received the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought from the European Parliament.
