Venezuela opposition leader María Corina Machado, who has been living in hiding due to threats against her life, plans to return to the South American nation in the very near future now that dictator Nicolás Maduro has been deposed.
“I’m planning to go back to Venezuela as soon as possible,” the 58-year-old Nobel Peace Prize winner told Fox News host Sean Hannity on Monday.
“Every day I make a decision of where I am more useful for the cause,” she added.
Machado, who has publicly backed President Trump’s military actions against Maduro’s leadership, indicated on Saturday that she and Edmundo González, whom the US recognizes as the winner of the country’s last presidential election, were prepared to lead a transitional government in Venezuela.
Trump, however, has downplayed the idea of Machado leading the South American country.
“I don’t think she’s got the support of the people that she has to have,” the president told The Post on Sunday.
“Maybe [Machado] should run. Maybe somebody else should run,” Trump added. “But first, we have to run the country right.”
Machado told Hannity that she hasn’t spoken to Trump since October, when she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
“I do want to say today, on behalf of the Venezuelan people, how grateful we are for his courageous vision, the actions – historical actions – he has taken against this narco-terrorist regime,” she said of the commander-in-chief.
Asked if she ever offered to give Trump her Nobel Prize, the opposition leader said she hadn’t but is open to doing so.
“It hasn’t happened yet, but I would certainly love to be able to personally tell him that we, Venezuelan people, — because this is a prize of the Venezuelan people – certainly want to give it to him and share it with him,” Machado said.
“What he has done is historic,” she continued. “It’s a huge step towards a Democratic transition.”
Machado said she expects a “free Venezuela” will serve as a US security ally; an energy hub with open markets; and will allow “millions of Venezuelans that have been forced to flee” to return back home.
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