She emphasizes that the US government “is the only one that has risked the lives of its own citizens for the freedom of Venezuela”
She reminds Petro of what happens to judges who "issue rulings contrary to the regime," after he requested that Maduro be tried in Venezuela
Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado highlighted the “great conversation” she had this Wednesday with Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Washington, which she considered a sign of the “priority” that Latin America, and Venezuela in particular, represents for the Donald Trump administration.
“I am very grateful to the Secretary of State for the great conversation we had today. This meeting confirms the priority that President Trump’s administration has given to the threats, challenges, and opportunities we have in the Americas, and especially in Venezuela,” she said on her X account.
The considered leader of the opposition called on her compatriots to put their “talent and effort” at the service of a country with “robust democratic institutions, freedom, and dignity” in a message in which she denounced “27 years of criminal devastation” by Caracas.
“Dear Venezuelans, rest assured that with the support of our genuine allies and with God’s help, we will succeed!” she affirmed.
Hours earlier, in statements to the press at the end of the meeting, she assured that “the transition to democracy will take place because we have the support of the most important democracies in the world, and especially the government of President Trump and his Secretary of State.”
Along these lines, she stressed that the head of the US diplomatic corps “is undoubtedly one of the people who best understands what is happening in the hemisphere and the threat that the criminal forces that have established themselves in Venezuela represent for this country.” Machado, who addressed Venezuelans both inside the country and in the diaspora, celebrated that “we are undoubtedly living through decisive hours and days for the future of Venezuela,” a sentiment she extended to the rest of the continent.
The recent Nobel Peace Prize laureate reiterated her praise for the White House, stating that “it is the only government that has risked the lives of its own citizens for the freedom of Venezuela.”
“Today we are very close to consolidating what we have longed for, not only the conquest of freedom, but also achieving the reunification of all our families, so that millions of Venezuelans who have left can return home,” she said, assuring that she will return to the Latin American country “very soon.”
She also took the opportunity to remind everyone that “political prisoners are our absolute priority,” stating that more than 700 of them remain detained, including 14 of the 36 who have been arrested this January. “We will not stop fighting until all of them, absolutely all of them, are released,” she promised.
Furthermore, when asked about the statements by Colombian President Gustavo Petro, who called for Nicolás Maduro’s return to Venezuela to be tried in his own country, Machado recalled that “any judge in Venezuela who issues a ruling contrary to the regime’s interests knows that they could end up like (…) María Lourdes Afiouni.”
“Hugo Chávez (the former Venezuelan president) ordered her imprisonment because, following her conscience, she issued a ruling contrary to the regime’s interests,” she pointed out. “So, are those the judges that the president of Colombia thinks will try Nicolás Maduro?” she questioned.
