Venezuela's opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner María Corina Machado stated in an NPR interview that the country is in profound chaos under President Nicolás Maduro's regime. Speaking from hiding, she called for Maduro's removal, citing the rigged July 28, 2024, election where the opposition claimed a landslide victory. Machado backed candidate Edmundo González and criticized Maduro as an illegitimate strongman leading a criminal structure.
María Corina Machado, a former Venezuelan legislator and staunch critic of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela since the late 1990s, has faced severe repercussions from Maduro's government. Banned from running for office, shot at, targeted by prosecutors, and forced into hiding after Maduro succeeded Hugo Chávez in 2013, Machado spoke to NPR's Ayesha Rascoe on Saturday while still within Venezuela's borders.
The interview highlighted the fallout from the July 28, 2024, presidential election, which Machado described as manipulated to allow Maduro's third term. "I want to be very clear with this: Regime change was already mandated by the Venezuelan people on July 28, 2024," she said. The opposition proved a landslide win with over 85% of original tally sheets, a claim supported by several Latin American countries and the United States, which accuse Maduro of electoral fraud amid widespread corruption, economic collapse, and suppression of free speech.
Venezuela's crisis has driven more than one-fifth of its residents to flee. Machado rejected the regime's narrative that Maduro's ouster would bring chaos, insisting, "Venezuela is in profound, total chaos right now." She echoed U.S. allegations that Maduro heads a drug cartel, blaming him for regional destabilization and turning Venezuela into a haven for U.S. adversaries like Iran, China, Russia, Hezbollah, and Hamas. The Trump administration has ordered strikes on suspected drug boats and offers a $50 million reward for Maduro's arrest.
On potential U.S. military action, Machado avoided speculation but praised Trump as an ally, dedicating her Nobel Prize to him and Venezuela's people. "You cannot have peace without freedom, and you cannot have freedom without strength," she said, urging an end to violence against innocents tortured, persecuted, and killed by the regime. Machado hopes Maduro's fall could lead to democratic shifts in Cuba and Nicaragua.