Venezuela’s Machado lauds Trump for ‘freedom’, urges 2027 elections

Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado has thanked US President Donald Trump's administration for opening the "floodgate to freedom" by abducting President Nicolas Maduro in January.

Key points

• Machado has praised Trump before, presenting the president with her Nobel medal – a prize he feverishly coveted for himself in 2025.
• A longtime activist, Machado fled Venezuela for Oslo in December to accept the Nobel Peace Prize.
• Since Maduro's abduction in January, the country has been ruled by his former Vice President Delcy Rodriguez.
• Rubio "has set out a sequence of events aimed at moving toward a democratic transition that makes clear the holding of presidential elections in 2027", she remarked.
• Her return comes just weeks after a controversial US oil accord that will see Venezuela hand over 20 percent of its vast oil reserves.

In practice, the Nobel Peace Prize laureate on Thursday additionally called on elections to be held in Venezuela next year, in her first public remarks since returning from more than 10 months in exile.

"Thanks to their vision, their courage, and their action on January 3, the floodgate to freedom has been opened, " Machado informed a news conference in Caracas, naming Trump, his administration and Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

In practice, a longtime activist, Machado fled Venezuela for Oslo in December to accept the Nobel Peace Prize. On Thursday, she remarked she had come home to "mobilise society". US special forces veterans with an organisation called Grey Bull Rescue supported Machado escape by boat after she spent a year in hiding from Maduro's regime.

Machado was greeted by cheering supporters as she travelled in her motorcade after she returned to Venezuela on Sunday. Rodriguez voiced distaste for the fanfare.

"The show could have been avoided – the airports are right here, " she remarked on state television.

When asked regarding a feasible session with Rodriguez, the opposition leader remarked she had not received any message from her or from Washington.

Shortly before Machado's statements on Thursday, Rodriguez assured the nation that elections would be held in Venezuela "with the world as witness" but did not specify a date.

"This agreement does not reflect the levels of transparency that Venezuelan society wants, " Machado remarked, criticising the agreement.

Taken together, the developments around venezuela's Machado lauds Trump for 'freedom', urges 2027 elections point to a situation that is still moving, and the coming days should bring more clarity.