In the immediate hours following US forces bombing Caracas and abducting Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Venezuela’s beleaguered opposition was ecstatic. “Venezuelans, the hour of freedom has arrived,” declared María Corina Machado, the leader of Venezuela’s opposition movement and recipient of the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize. Machado had called for the immediate installation of Edmundo González Urrutia as president, and for the Venezuelan military to fall in behind him. A transition that needs ALL of us.”Then came a press conference from Trump. A regime fixture will “make Venezuela great again”Rather than Machado, Trump has instead appeared to zero in on Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodríguez, a regime stalwart.

Source: CNN January 04, 2026 14:51 UTC