The Venezuelan opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner, María Corina Machadosaid on Saturday that the leftist governments of Cuba and Nicaragua will fall once the “criminal regime” in Venezuela, headed by Delcy Rodríguez, does.
US forces captured Nicolás Maduro in a military raid on January 3 in Caracas. Rodríguez, who was his vice president, assumed duties on an interim basis. And now he is advancing an agenda of oil agreements and releases of political prisoners under pressure from Washington.
“What is happening in Venezuela is gigantic in terms of the repercussions it is already having in the region,” said Machado, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 2025, in a telematic speech during the Munich Security Conference, Germany.
What did María Corina Machado say about Cuba and Nicaragua?
“Once we dismantle the criminal regime in Venezuela, Cuba will be next, Nicaragua will follow. For the first time in history, we will have the Americas free of communism and dictatorship,” he continued in English during his speech.
Both Cuba, led by Miguel Díaz-Canel, and Nicaragua, governed by co-presidents Daniel Ortega and his wife Rosario Murillo, are allies of the ruling Chavismo in Venezuela.
Machado was living in hiding and left the country in December with American support to collect the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo.
The opponent decided to present the medal to President Donald Trump, a gesture that the president described as “wonderful.”
Machado She has said she is willing to return to her country. This despite the house arrest ordered against one of his closest allies, Juan Pablo Guanipa, a few hours after his release.
“Permission, no,” the opponent responded when asked if she needed the United States to facilitate or allow her return to her country. “But I would certainly say that we want us to have coordination,” he said.
In his presentation, Machado predicted an “orderly” and “peaceful” transition to democracy in Venezuelaand noted that she hopes to become president “at the right time.”
Although Trump has received it and has declared that the political objective in Venezuela is the holding of elections and the democratic transition, in his most recent statements he fails to mention that aspect.
Since the fall of Maduro, Rodríguez has turned around his relationship with the United States, broken since 2019, with an oil reform that opens the doors to foreign investment and offers attractive conditions for American companies.
Trump maintains a good relationship with Rodríguez. On Friday, he assured that the president is doing “a great job.”
