Venezuela's Machado is 'confident' Maduro's 'criminal' regime will end

Since the US military's capture of Nicolas Maduro and his wife to face charges in New York, Donald Trump has backed vice president Delcy Rodriguez to lead the country.

Friday 16 January 2026 20:28, UK

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Venezuela's opposition leader said she is "confident" Nicolas Maduro's "criminal" regime will be dismantled and free elections will be held.

Speaking in the US on Friday, a day after giving her Nobel Peace Prize to US President Donald Trump, Maria Corina Machado told reporters "I am profoundly, profoundly confident that we will have an orderly transition" to elections.

"Venezuela is going to be free," she said at the Heritage Foundation, before adding that it would take time.

She then said that she felt a "criminal structure" had dominated Venezuela for years and that it would eventually dismantle itself.

Since the US military's capture of Maduro and his wife to face charges in New York on 3 January, Mr Trump has backed current vice president Delcy Rodriguez to lead the country.

Ms Machado, whose movement was widely seen as the winner of a 2024 election, which saw widespread allegations of corruption in favour of the president, insisted her remarks have "nothing to do with tension or relations between Delcy Rodriguez and myself" at the news conference.

Despite this, she then called Ms Rodriguez a "communist," said she was afraid of Mr Trump, and said she controls a "repressive" system but not the military, making her position unsustainable.

In a post on Truth Social after their meeting, Mr Trump said that Ms Machado was a "wonderful woman who has been through so much" and that giving him her Nobel was "a wonderful gesture of mutual respect".

However, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said during the visit that Mr Trump stood by his "realistic" assessment that she did not currently have the support needed to lead Venezuela in the short term.

And as Ms Machado met the president on Thursday, CIA director John Ratcliffe flew to Caracas and met Ms Rodriguez, the highest-level known US visit since the toppling of Maduro.

It comes as the Norwegian Nobel Committee said the Peace Prize remains Ms Machado's despite her giving it to Mr Trump.

"Regardless of what may happen to the medal, the diploma, or the prize money, it is and remains the original laureate who is recorded in history as the recipient of the prize," the award body said in a statement.

"There are no restrictions in the statutes of the Nobel Foundation on what a laureate may do with the medal, the diploma, or the prize money," it added.

"This means that a laureate is free to keep, give away, sell, or donate these items."

It also comes as Venezuela's defence minister confirmed that 47 Venezuelan soldiers were killed in US strike on Caracas on 3 January.

Venezuela's Machado is 'confident' Maduro's 'criminal' regime will end

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