Nobel Peace Prize winner backs US boat strikes on Venezuela, blames Maduro

Nobel Peace Prize winner and Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado expressed support for US boat strikes in the Caribbean Sea, placing responsibility for resulting deaths on Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.

“We asked for years, [for the] international community to cut the sources that come from drug trafficking and other criminal activities,” Machado told journalist Mishal Husain in the episode of her eponymous Bloomberg podcast. “Finally, this is happening.”

Machado emphasised that the strikes are aimed at saving lives, Caliber.Az reports. 

“This is about saving lives,” she said in response to a question about whether the deaths caused by strikes on drug trafficking boats were justified. “Maduro is absolutely conscious and has been warned what not to do.”

“These deaths are the responsibility of Nicolás Maduro,” she continued. “He, and the rest of the drug cartels in power in Venezuela, should stop these activities in order to prevent more deaths.”

The Trump administration has conducted multiple boat strikes in the Caribbean Sea and Eastern Pacific, targeting vessels allegedly carrying “narco-terrorists” involved in drug trafficking to the US, including off the coast of Venezuela.

Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth confirmed that another strike was carried out on October 29 against a boat carrying “narco-terrorists,” bringing the total number of fatalities from these operations to 61, according to the Trump administration.

By Sabina Mammadli