Machado says Venezuelans are ‘very grateful’ to Trump for overthrowing Maduro, after he suggested she can do it

Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado praised President Trump for remove Nicolás Maduro from power and argued that his coalition has a mandate to lead the country in the future, even as Trump leaves questions about whether Machado could take power herself.

Machado spoke with “News Evening News” host Tony Dokoupil in a network exclusive Tuesday, just three days after the U.S. military executed a daring mission to capture Maduro, ending the authoritarian president’s nearly 13-year reign over Venezuela.

Machado has aligned himself with Trump in recent months, backing his administration’s months-long pressure campaign against the Maduro regime and dedicating his Nobel Peace Prize. When Trump ordered last weekend’s surprise operation to remove Maduro from Caracas and fly him to New York on drug charges, Machado vocally celebrated the measure.

Machado has since called on his ally Edmundo González, whom the United States recognizes as the winner of the 2024 elections, to take charge of Venezuela as soon as possible, replacing Maduro’s agents who still run the country.

But Trump has refused to endorse Machado’s movement. He said saturday that it would be “very difficult” for her to govern Venezuela and doubted she had enough support within the country, saying: “She is a very nice woman, but she has no respect.”

When asked why she thinks Trump said that about her, Machado suggested there could be lingering concerns about Venezuela’s stability. He told News themezone that Venezuela “has been taken over by a criminal narcoterrorist system” backed by guerrilla groups and U.S. adversaries such as Iran and Cuba, and “there is fear that these groups will resist a peaceful transition.”

However, Machado said he believes that “a vast majority of Venezuela’s military and police also support an orderly transition to democracy.”

And he continued: “I think we have a united country.”

When asked if he believes he is the right person to lead Venezuela in the first chapter of its post-Maduro future, Machado told News themezone that “the people of Venezuela have already chosen” and that his coalition is “ready and willing to serve our people, just as we have been ordered.”

He pointed to the country’s hotly contested 2024 elections, when González ran against Maduro because the government banned Machado, who won the opposition primaries, from running. Maduro’s government declared him the winner, but those results were rejected by much of the international community and are widely considered tainted by widespread fraud.

Machado, who told News themezone he has not spoken to Trump this year, said Venezuelans are “very grateful” to Trump. He called Maduro’s arrest an “important step toward restoring prosperity, the rule of law and democracy in Venezuela.”

He acknowledged that the country has not yet reached that point. He alleged that Venezuela’s interim president, Delcy Rodríguez, played a key role in Maduro’s corruption, was “one of the main architects” of Venezuela’s security state and served as the “main link” between the South American country and Russia and Iran.

“Everyone in Venezuela and abroad knows perfectly well who she is and the role she has played,” Machado said.

Asked if he had a message for Trump, he said: “Trust the Venezuelan people.”

“We’ve come a long way,” he said, pointing to what he called a “landslide” victory in 2024 despite widespread accusations of fraud. “So imagine if there had been free and fair elections.”

He predicted that Venezuela “will not only be a security ally for the United States, but a country of prosperity,” allowing millions of Venezuelans who have left the country due to economic deprivation and political threats to return home. And he said he supports American oil companies returning to Venezuela, backing a Mr. Trump’s recent push.

He also predicted that the remnants of Maduro’s government and any violent groups in the country will be “neutralized.”

“I dare to say that there is no society as cohesive and united as the Venezuelan one in this hemisphere,” he stated. “More than 90% of our population wants the same thing. We want to live with respect, with dignity, with justice and opportunities.”