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Venezuelan opposition leader Mar\u00eda Corina Machado has vowed she will lead the country “when the right time comes”.<\/p>\n
“There’s a mission, and we are going to turn Venezuela into that land of grace, and I believe I will be elected when the right time comes as president of Venezuela, the first woman president,” she told Fox News.<\/p>\n
Her comments come a day after she gave President Donald Trump her Nobel Peace Prize medal, calling it a recognition of his commitment to Venezuela’s freedom.<\/p>\n
The US seized Venezuela’s President Nicol\u00e1s Maduro in Caracas on 3 January and removed him to New York to face various drugs and weapons charges. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n
However, Trump has declined to endorse Machado as Venezuela’s new leader, saying she did not have enough domestic support – despite her opposition movement claiming victory in 2024’s widely contested elections. <\/p>\n
He has instead been dealing with the country’s interim president Delcy Rodr\u00edguez, who had been Maduro’s vice-president and who on Friday held a two-hour meeting with the director of the CIA “at President Trump’s direction” aimed at building trust and communication between the two countries, according to a US official.<\/p>\n
“Director Ratcliffe discussed potential opportunities for economic collaboration and that Venezuela can no longer be a safe haven for America’s adversaries,” the US official said.<\/p>\n
Speaking at an event in Washington DC later on Friday, Machado said she was confident there would be an “orderly transition” in her country.<\/p>\n
“The result of a stable transition will be a proud Venezuela that will be the best ally the US has ever had in the Americas,” she said.<\/p>\n
“This has nothing to do with a tension between Delcy Rodr\u00edguez and myself, this is about a criminal structure: that is the regime and the Venezuelan people,” she added, describing herself as “just one member of a movement of millions of Venezuelans”.<\/p>\n
She also visited Congress to meet US senators during her visit to Washington, where her remarks to reporters were drowned out by supporters chanting “Mar\u00eda, presidente” and waving Venezuelan flags.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Meanwhile, in Venezuela’s capital Caracas, Rodr\u00edguez gave her first state of the union address since taking over as interim president.<\/p>\n
She said she was not afraid to face the US “diplomatically, through political dialogue”.<\/p>\n
Rodr\u00edguez also said Venezuela needed to defend its “dignity and honour”, and announced oil industry reforms to allow more foreign investment in a step away from Maduro’s policies.<\/p>\n
Trump called Rodr\u00edguez a “terrific person” on Wednesday after the pair spoke on the phone, a conversation the Venezuelan leader called “productive and courteous”.<\/p>\n
The following day, the US president called Machado a “wonderful woman who has been through so much”, describing her gift of the Nobel Peace Prize medal as a “wonderful gesture of mutual respect”.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n