 "Venezuela opposition leader Maria Corina Machado arrives at White House for Trump talks")
Venezuelan opposition figure María Corina Machado arrived at the White House on Thursday for discussions with US President Donald Trump, who has largely sidelined her since the removal of Nicolás Maduro and has openly expressed interest in her Nobel Peace Prize.
Dressed in a white suit, Machado reached the White House complex in Washington in an SUV and was escorted inside for what officials described as a private lunch meeting with Trump.
The visit comes a day after Trump spoke positively about his first known phone conversation with Venezuela’s interim president Delcy Rodríguez, signalling approval that Maduro’s allies remain in power for now. Machado is expected to seek Trump’s backing following those remarks.
Since the US military operation on January 3 that led to Maduro’s capture, Trump has said Machado lacks sufficient domestic support to lead Venezuela, a significant setback for the 58-year-old opposition leader.
Machado has said she is willing to share her Nobel Peace Prize with Trump, and the president suggested she may offer it to him during their meeting, despite the Norwegian Nobel Institute stating that the award cannot be transferred.
“I understand she wants to do that. That would be a great honour,” Trump said in a recent interview with Fox News.
Sixth tanker seized
Trump fumed about not getting the award himself after the Nobel committee gave it to Machado for her activism in pursuit of democracy in Venezuela, despite threats of imprisonment by Maduro’s government.
After she appeared in Oslo last month to collect her Nobel prize – following a daring escape by boat – she did not return to Venezuela and remained in effective exile.
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View AllSince Maduro’s capture, Trump has said that the United States will “run” Venezuela but has appeared content to let Rodriguez remain in power.
Trump on Wednesday called Rodriguez a “terrific person” and hailed “terrific progress” by Venezuela. Rodriguez said the call was “productive and courteous,” and characterized by “mutual respect.”
“Many topics were discussed,” Trump said on social media, “including Oil, Minerals, Trade and, of course, National Security.”
Notably absent was any mention of a political transition, an issue Washington has set aside to focus on its economic demands, particularly access to Venezuelan oil.
The United States on Wednesday seized a sixth oil tanker in its campaign to control oil leaving the fossil fuel-rich South American country.
Marines and sailors apprehended the Tanker Veronica in the Caribbean without incident in a pre-dawn raid, the US military said on social media, with a video showing soldiers rappelling onto a vessel’s deck.
“The only oil leaving Venezuela will be oil that is coordinated properly and lawfully,” it said.
Separately, a US official told AFP on Thursday that the first US-brokered sale of Venezuelan oil, worth around $500 million, has been finalized, without identifying the buyer.
Prisoner releases
Machado, who campaigned for years to end Maduro’s rule, will seek during her lunch with Trump to bring the issue of a democratic transition back into the foreground.
Venezuela’s opposition has argued and presented evidence that Maduro stole the 2024 election from the candidate of Machado’s party, Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia – claims supported by Washington.
Venezuelan electoral authorities, seen as allied with Maduro, never released data from the vote.
Hundreds of people were arrested in post-election protests, and while Gonzalez Urrutia fled to Europe for asylum, Machado remained in the country in a hidden location, appearing only intermittently at rallies.
Under pressure from Washington, Venezuela has released dozens of political prisoners in the past week, though hundreds remain behind bars.
With inputs from agencies
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