One of the most surprising things to come out of Trump’s news conference was the fact that he only mentioned the leader of the Venezuelan opposition, María Corina Machado, in response to a question by a journalist.
Asked if he had spoken to Machado, who last month was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for her fight for democracy in Venezuela, he said “no”.
Trump says Venezuela VP Delcy Rodríguez is “willing to work with US”
Trump then added that Machado “doesn’t have the support within or the respect within the country” he said was needed to run Venezuela.
This will come as a shock to Machado, who just hours earlier had published a letter on social media saying that “the hour of freedom has come”. She also said that she and Edmundo González, the presidential candidate she had backed when she was barred from running for office, were “ready to enforce our mandate and take power”.
This was a reference to voting tallies collected by the oppposition during the 2024 presidential election, which suggested that González had won the election by a landslide and beaten Maduro.
Many nations, including the UK and the US, recognised González as the legitimate president-elect but Maduro, who had the backing of the army and the electoral council, was sworn in to another six year term.
● Vanessa Buschschlüter is BBC’s Latin America and Caribbean editor.
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