Machado thanks Trump and calls for a presidential election in Venezuela in 2027
At her first news conference since returning to Caracas, the opposition leader criticised an oil deal with the US. Delcy Rodríguez promises elections but gives no date.
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Venezuelan opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize laureate María Corina Machado has spoken publicly for the first time since returning from more than ten months in exile. At a news conference in Caracas on Thursday she thanked Donald Trump, his administration and Secretary of State Marco Rubio. "Thanks to their vision, their courage, and their action on January 3, the floodgate to freedom has been opened," she said, referring to the seizure of Nicolás Maduro by the US.
Rubio had set out a sequence of events that makes clear presidential elections will be held in 2027, Machado said. She criticised an agreement under which Venezuela will hand 20 percent of its oil reserves to the US, saying it "does not reflect the levels of transparency that Venezuelan society wants". The governing Delcy Rodríguez said on state television that elections would be held "with the world as witness" but gave no date and criticised the fanfare around Machado's return.