March 12 (UPI) -- Venezuelan opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize laureate María Corina Machado said the recent formal recognition by the United States of Delcy Rodríguez as interim president of Venezuela is part of a strategy to accelerate the country's political transition.
Speaking Thursday at a news conference in Chile, Machado said Venezuela is advancing toward democracy for the first time in 27 years. She said Rodríguez now has the responsibility to dismantle repressive structures built under the previous government.
"The United States, in its plan to move forward in this first phase, has given clear instructions to Rodríguez for sectors of the regime to dismantle the repressive, corrupt and criminal structure they themselves created, and that is what is happening now," Machado said. She attended the inauguration of Chilean President José Antonio Kast.
In a March 10, 2026, letter signed by Ambassador Michael G. Kozak, a senior official in the Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs, the United States recognized Rodríguez as president of Venezuela following the capture of Nicolás Maduro in January.
The document states that diplomatic and consular relations are being normalized under Rodríguez's leadership and grants her legal authority to act on behalf of the Republic of Venezuela before U.S. courts and international bodies within U.S. jurisdiction.
