United States President Donald Trump will meet with Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado on Thursday, according to White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt.
The Venezuelan opposition figure has played little role in debates about the country’s future since the US abducted Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro earlier this month, with Trump expressing doubt that she has the support necessary to govern Venezuela. Machado said last week that she had not spoken to Trump since October.
Instead, Maduro’s former vice president, Delcy Rodriguez, has assumed the role of interim president under the threat of further military attacks if her government does not submit to US demands on a range of issues.
The Venezuelan government said on Monday that it had freed dozens of political prisoners, some of whom were jailed during protests against Maduro following the disputed 2024 election.
Machado, the winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 2025 that Trump had sought for himself, met with Pope Leo XIV on Monday, stating that she asked him to “intercede for all Venezuelans who remain kidnapped and disappeared”.
The opposition leader has sought to cultivate close ties with the Trump administration, dedicating her Nobel Prize to Trump and, more recently, stating that she would like to share the prize or give it to him outright.
More to come…
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