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MADRID (AP) \u2014 Venezuela’s exiled opposition leader Mar\u00eda Corina Machado drew several thousand supporters Saturday to a rally in Madrid, where the Nobel laureate declined a meeting with Spain’s progressive Prime Minister Pedro S\u00e1nchez on a multicountry European tour.<\/p>\n
S\u00e1nchez, an outspoken critic of U.S. President Donald Trump, was hosting a summit of like-minded progressive leaders from around the world Saturday, while Machado extolled Trump’s ouster of Nicol\u00e1s Maduro in January.<\/p>\n
Earlier this year, she presented Trump with her Nobel Peace Prize.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat happened in the last few hours at the meeting (S\u00e1nchez) held in Barcelona with several leaders and political figures from different countries demonstrates why such a meeting was not advisable,\u201d Machado told reporters Saturday.<\/p>\n
Machado insisted at an earlier event she will be returning to Venezuela, but declined to say when, or how, and acknowledged the challenges implicit in a return to her country.<\/p>\n
Her multistop European tour, during which she met with the leaders of France, Italy and the Netherlands, comes while Venezuela\u2019s interim President Delcy Rodr\u00edguez has continued in her temporary role, exceeding its initial 90-day limit, while the U.S. government has lifted some sanctions against her.<\/p>\n
Machado criticized Rodr\u00edguez\u2019s government, saying it represented \u201cchaos, violence and terror,\u201d and reiterated her belief in the need for democratic elections in Venezuela. Machado added she did not regret presenting Trump, whose administration has largely sidelined the crusader for democracy, with her Nobel.<\/p>\n
She said she was in permanent contact with officials in the Trump administration and trusted Washington’s phased process in Venezuela since Maduro’s removal.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is one leader in the world, one head of state, who has risked the lives of his country\u2019s citizens for the freedom of Venezuela. And that is Donald Trump,\u201d Machado said, referring to the U.S. military operation in January.<\/p>\n
The opposition leader drew a huge crowd in the Spanish capital\u2019s Puerta del Sol, standing beside Madrid\u2019s conservative regional leader Isabel D\u00edaz Ayuso, who feted her earlier in the day.<\/p>\n
Some 600,000 Venezuelans live in Spain, home to the largest population anywhere outside the Americas. Many fled political persecution and violence, but also the country\u2019s collapsing economy. A majority live in the capital, Madrid.<\/p>\n
Ahead of Venezuela’s 2024 presidential elections, Machado crisscrossed the country, rallying millions of voters looking to end 25 years of single party rule. When she was barred from the race, a previously unknown former diplomat, Edmundo Gonzalez, replaced her on the ballot. But election officials loyal to the ruling party declared Maduro the winner despite ample credible evidence to the contrary.<\/p>\n
Machado, revered by millions in Venezuela, went into hiding but vowed to continue fighting until democracy was restored. She reemerged last December to pick up her Nobel Peace Prize in Norway, the first time in more than a decade that she had left Venezuela.<\/p>\n
On Saturday, 27-year-old Venezuelan migrant Grehlsy Pe\u00f1uela said she still placed her hopes for her country in Machado and her eventual return to Caracas.<\/p>\n
Pe\u00f1uela, who held signs with the faces of her two cousins she said remain incarcerated in Caracas as political prisoners, would consider returning to Venezuela only under one condition.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat the current government completely steps down,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n