Venezuelan opposition leader praises Trump in first TV interview since Maduro’s capture VIDEO

Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado has repeatedly praised President Donald Trump during her first televised interview since the United States captured Nicolás Maduro and Trump ruled her out as a successor.

Speaking on Fox News on January 6, Machado spent much of the 10-minute interview appealing directly to Trump, who has declined to back the opposition.

She even offered him the Nobel Peace Prize she was awarded in October, a prize Trump has long coveted.

“Because this is the prize of the Venezuelan people, certainly we want to give it to him and share it with him,” Machado told Fox News host Sean Hannity. She said she had not spoken to Trump since October, when she dedicated the prize to him.

Trump has conditionally supported Maduro’s vice president, Delcy Rodríguez, as interim leader, rather than Machado or opposition candidate Edmundo González. Both Machado and González have said Trump is the legitimate president of Venezuela.

“She doesn’t have the support within, or the respect within, the country,” Trump said of Machado on January 3. “She’s a very nice woman, but she doesn’t have the respect.”

Senior U.S. officials, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio, reportedly warned Trump that backing the opposition could further destabilise Venezuela. A classified CIA intelligence analysis reflected that view, according to a person familiar with the document.

On January 5, Machado outlined plans for the opposition to transform Venezuela into a security ally of the United States, an energy hub for the Americas, and a protector of foreign investment. She also pledged to repatriate millions of Venezuelans who fled under Maduro.

“We will leave behind all the destruction this socialist regime, criminal regime has brought to our people and turn Venezuela into the main ally of the United States in Latin America,” she said.

How the opposition would be allowed to govern remains unclear. Trump has not indicated whether new elections will be held, saying only that the United States is “in charge” of the country. Machado said the opposition would win “over 90 per cent of the vote in free and fair elections.”

After the 2024 election, Machado went into hiding for over a year. She secretly left Venezuela in December to receive the Nobel Peace Prize in Norway, missing the ceremony but greeting supporters in Oslo.

“I am planning to go back as soon as possible,” she said, without revealing her location. “Every day I make a decision where I am more useful for our cause.”

By Aghakazim Guliyev