Overview
- Speaking in Washington, María Corina Machado said that once Venezuela is liberated she will work to achieve a free Cuba and a free Nicaragua.
- She publicly credited President Trump and supportive U.S. lawmakers, including Mario Díaz-Balart, Carlos Giménez and María Elvira Salazar, with aiding the opposition’s advances.
- Machado presented her 2025 Nobel Peace Prize medal to Trump at a Jan. 15 White House meeting, despite the Norwegian Nobel Committee’s stance that prizes are not transferable.
- The gesture and her regional ambitions prompted sharp online criticism and debate over the use of a Nobel and U.S. influence as political tools.
- Her comments followed the Jan. 3 U.S. operation that captured Nicolás Maduro, with Maduro now in U.S. custody, U.S. seizures of sanctioned Venezuelan oil tankers, and international reactions split between condemnation and support.