Venezuela opposition leader sees eventual elections but cautions about complex path ahead

Highlights:

• Machado confident in transition to free elections in Venezuela
• Trump has prioritized oil access over restoring democracy in Venezuela
• Machado praises Trump, avoids criticizing his Venezuela approach

Opposition leader Maria Corina Machado said on Friday she was confident that the remnants of what she called Venezuela's "criminal regime" would eventually be dismantled and there would be an orderly transition to free elections, but cautioned that the road ahead would be difficult and complex.

Machado spoke to reporters a day after meeting President Donald Trump at the White House, where she presented her Nobel Peace Prize medal to him as she sought to sway him to give the opposition a role in determining Venezuela's future after the US ousted longtime leader Nicolas Maduro.

Trump has backed former Maduro loyalists, led by interim President Delcy Rodriguez, to govern the OPEC nation for now instead of Machado, whose movement was widely seen as the legitimate winner of the 2024 election that Maduro was accused of rigging.

Confident of orderly move to elections

Since the 3 January lightning raid that toppled Maduro, Trump has prioritized gaining access to Venezuela's vast oil reserves, not restoring democracy to Venezuela, and made clear he sees the current leadership as the best bet for maintaining order.

Machado's visit to Washington has done little to clarify any role she may have in the changes under way in Venezuela. She said she insisted in her meeting with Trump on returning to Venezuela as soon as possible, but cited no tangible agreements with the US.

Despite signs of the Trump administration deepening ties with Maduro's government, Machado gave a mostly upbeat assessment.

"I am profoundly, profoundly confident that we will have an orderly transition (to elections)," she told a press conference, but stressed that the process would take time to unfold.

"This has nothing to do with tension or relations between Delcy Rodriguez and myself," she said, but insisted that a "criminal structure" that has dominated Venezuela for years would eventually dismantle itself. She did not elaborate on how this would happen.

Machado branded Venezuela's new leader a "communist" and said Rodriguez is afraid of Trump and holds an unsustainable position as head of a system that is "repressive" but does not include the military.

Rodriguez's government did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Cia director meets Rodriguez

Coinciding with Machado's White House visit on Thursday, CIA Director John Ratcliffe flew to Caracas, the highest-level known US visit since the toppling of Maduro and another sign of the two sides jockeying for favor with the Trump administration. In a photo circulating on social media, the two shook hands surrounded by several people, with Rodriguez wearing a bright green pantsuit and sneakers.

Machado expressed gratitude to Trump and avoided any direct criticism of his approach to post-Maduro Venezuela, which has frustrated many in the country's opposition.

Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform that Machado was a "wonderful woman who has been through so much" and that giving him her Nobel Peace Prize medal was "a wonderful gesture of mutual respect." The White House later posted a photo of Trump, alongside Machado, holding up a large, gold-colored frame displaying the medal.

Seeking Trump's favor

Machado's attempt to win Trump's favor in their first face-to-face meeting came after he dismissed the idea of installing her as Venezuela's leader to replace Maduro, who was whisked away to New York to face prosecution on "narco-trafficking" charges.

During the visit, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Trump stood by his "realistic" assessment that Machado did not currently have the support needed to lead the country in the short term.

While declining to offer details of her discussions with Trump, Machado acknowledged "there may be some phase that we hadn't anticipated or that we don't like." But she asserted that the opposition was participating in Venezuela's transition, without offering specifics.

Machado, who fled the South American nation in a daring seaborne escape in December, is competing for Trump's ear with members of Venezuela's government and seeking to ensure she has a role in governing the nation going forward.

Trump has on several occasions praised Rodriguez, Maduro's former vice president, and told Reuters on Wednesday, "She's been very good to deal with."

Ratcliffe met with Rodriguez at Trump's direction "to deliver the message that the United States looks forward to an improved working relationship," according to a US official.

The two discussed intelligence cooperation, economic stability and the need to ensure Venezuela was no longer a "safe haven for America's adversaries, especially narco-traffickers," according to the US official.

Machado was banned from running in Venezuela's 2024 presidential election by a top court stacked with Maduro allies, and went into hiding.

Outside observers widely believe Edmundo Gonzalez, an opposition figure backed by Machado, won by a substantial margin, but Maduro claimed victory.

Many Machado and Gonzalez allies were jailed in the fallout of the election, with rights group Foro Penal estimating about 800 political prisoners in the country. Among them is Rafael Tudares, the husband of Gonzalez's daughter Mariana Gonzalez, who was detained in January 2025. Mariana Gonzalez said on Friday that authorities allowed her to speak with Tudares for 25 minutes through a panel of bulletproof glass, and she found him in poor health.

"Rafael was visibly affected, both physically and emotionally," she said in a social media post. "Isolation and being kept away from his children are not human conditions for anyone."

In an annual address to lawmakers on Thursday, Rodriguez called for diplomacy with the United States and said that should she need to travel to Washington, she would do so "walking on her feet, not dragged there."

She also said she would propose reforms to her country's oil industry aimed at increasing access for foreign investors. The potential shift comes as international oil companies are lobbying for changes in Venezuelan law that would give them the right to freely export oil produced in the country.