Nobel winner Maria Machado says her coalition should lead Venezuela

Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado has said her coalition should “absolutely” be in charge of the country, following the US ousting of President Nicolás Maduro last week.

“We are ready and willing to serve our people as we have been mandated,” Machado said in an interview with the BBC’s US partner CBS.

She thanked US President Donald Trump for his “leadership and courage” after US forces stormed Caracas and arrested Maduro, but said nobody trusted the deposed president’s ally, who has been appointed as interim leader.

Machado and her opposition movement claimed victory in 2024’s heavily disputed elections, but Trump has refused to back her, saying she lacks popular support.

The former legislator, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize last year, described US military action in Venezuela over the weekend as “a major step towards restoring prosperity and rule of law and democracy in Venezuela”.

She said she had not spoken with Trump this year, but expressed gratitude to him for deposing Maduro.

“President Trump’s leadership and courage has brought Nicolás Maduro to face justice and this is huge,” she told CBS.

Despite her overtures, the US president has publicly dismissed Machado as a credible successor to Maduro.

“I think it would be very tough for her to be the leader,” Trump told a news conference days ago, referring to Machado.

“She doesn’t have the support within or the respect within the country. She’s a very nice woman, but she doesn’t have the respect.”

Machado, who has been in hiding for months after being barred from running in the 2024 presidential elections in Venezuela, has previously called for presidential opposition candidate Edmundo González to assume power after Maduro’s arrest.

Machado rallied support for González in the election, and vote tallies released by her party suggest he won by a landslide.

However, Maduro was declared president by Venezuela’s electoral council (CNE), a body dominated by government loyalists.

Despite this, the US and dozens of other countries recognised González as the president-elect.

David Smolansky, a spokesperson for the Venezuelan opposition, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that there was no future for a well-functioning country without González and Machado in power.

“They could guarantee a democratic transition and they have the respect of Venezuelans and several governments across the world,” he said.

Asked why he thinks Trump has so far chosen to back Venezuela’s interim leader, Delcy Rodríguez – formerly Maduro’s vice-president – rather than the opposition, Smolansky said: “Every transition when it begins is not perfect. It’s messy.”

He also responded to suggestions that the opposition’s lack of support within the military is one of the reasons Trump has chosen to back Rodríguez, saying there are members of the armed forces – both currently serving and in exile – that are ready to work with them.

Machado has said nobody trusts Rodríguez, telling CBS that Rodríguez was “one of the main architects… of repression for innocent people” in the South American country.

“Everybody in Venezuela and abroad knows perfectly who she is and the role she has played,” Machado said.

While Rodríguez, 56, has faced US sanctions for her ministerial roles in the Maduro administration, she has not been charged by US officials with any crimes.

Rodríguez was sworn in on Monday, days after a US special forces breached Venezuelan security to arrest Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores.

Earlier on Tuesday, Rodríguez rebuffed claims by Trump that the US was in charge of Venezuela.

“The Venezuelan government rules our country, and no-one else does,” she said in a televised speech. “There is no external agent governing Venezuela.”