Trump has destroyed Venezuela's socialist ideology: opposition leader

The oil-rich Latin American country was thrown into turmoil this January when US military forces toppled the leftist Maduro, who has been replaced with his former deputy Delcy Rodriguez.

While Rodriguez served under Maduro, she has proved eager to bend to Trump's demands, including reopening the country to US oil companies. Last week, she ordered a wide-ranging reshuffle of senior military leaders.

"Following President Trump's instructions, they are dismantling their own repressive and corrupt structures -- a crucial step toward the transition," Machado said during an interview with AFP in Houston, Texas, where she was attending the CERAWeek global energy forum. 

Machado, the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize winner, said that when presidential elections are held again in Venezuela, she will participate "in that electoral process" but did not specify whether she would run.

She said she believed that "Venezuelans will freely decide who they want" as leader in the next elections.

Machado was banned from running for president in the 2024 election. After Maduro claimed a reelection victory, a wave of repression forced her to remain in hiding for more than a year.

She has remained in the United States for most of her exile.

In January, just two weeks after US forces snatched Maduro and brought him to New York for trial, she met with Trump in the White House and presented him with her Nobel prize. 

Trump has said he would like to "get her involved" in Venezuela's political process. But he has so far sidelined Machado and backed Rodriguez as interim leader.

Machado said she had spoken with Trump since that visit, but declined to disclose details, saying only that they "discussed all issues affecting Venezuela."

Machado said that Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio have proposed a three-stage transition in Venezuela. The third stage would be "a transition that will include clean, free elections, which will produce legitimate authorities."

Despite the political uncertainty, Machado said the time was right to invest Venezuela, which has the world's largest oil reserves. She cited its competitive production costs and location "in the heart of the Americas."

What was lacking until now -- the institutional framework and security conditions for long-term investments -- is being built, she said.

"The opening of the oil sector, as we're proposing it, has never been seen in the country," she said.

"That is, going 100 percent private, where the state assumes a regulatory role and incentivizes, promotes, and protects foreign investment."

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