Venezuelan opposition leader and Nobel prize winner had been sidelined by White House after US seized Maduro
Donald Trump will host María Corina Machado, the Venezuelan opposition leader and 2025 Nobel peace prize winner, at the White House on Thursday for a high-stakes talks on the oil-rich nation’s future following the US capture of Nicolás Maduro.
Many in Venezuela and abroad had expected Machado to take charge after an elite US military team seized Maduro in a pre-dawn raid on 3 January and transported him to a New York City jail.
But the White House has largely sidelined Machado, instead recognizing Maduro’s former vice-president, Delcy Rodríguez, as Venezuela’s interim leader even as Trump insists the US will “run” the country.
A close Rodríguez ally, Venezuela’s ambassador to the UK Félix Plasencia, was also set to land in Washington on Thursday to meet Trump officials as part of the dramatic rapprochement brought about by Maduro’s downfall. That official visit – the first in years – was reportedly partly designed to pave the way for the reopening of the Venezuelan embassy.
