WASHINGTON — Republicans in Congress who have long pushed for the end of Venezuela’s dictatorship insisted Wednesday that democracy was just around the corner in the beleaguered country.
It’s a view seemingly at odds with President Donald Trump’s emphasis on bringing oil to Americans instead of freedom to Venezuelans.
Rep. Carlos Giménez (R-Fla.), whose south Florida district includes many Cubans and Venezuelans eager for regime change in those countries, said Maria Corina Machado, the country’s exiled opposition leader and winner of the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize, hasn’t been pushed aside.
“I don’t think they’re sidelining the opposition. I think they’re getting the stage ready for a free and democratic Venezuela,” Giménez told HuffPost. “This thing happened on Saturday. You just can’t say, ‘OK, that’s it. We’re going to flip the switch. Everything is going to happen.’”
The weekend raid that captured Maduro and his wife set off mass celebrations in Venezuelan communities throughout the United States and the world. But Trump pointedly did not aim to topple Maduro’s government, and his administration has shown almost no interest in helping Machado gain power or holding elections even as Maduro’s allies unleashed a new wave of repression in the country.
