Venezuela’s interim president, Delcy Rodríguez, warned that if opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner María Corina Machado returns to the country, she will be held accountable for her support for the military action that resulted in the capture of Nicolás Maduro.
Asked about the security guarantees for Machado, who left the country after spending months in hiding for fear of reprisals from the Maduro government, the interim president said that “as for his life, we do not understand why there is so much commotion.”
“As for his return to the country, he will have to answer to Venezuela. Why did he ask for military intervention, why did he ask for sanctions against Venezuela and why did he celebrate the actions that took place at the beginning of January,” said Rodríguez in a preview of a interview with NBC News which will be published in full this Thursday.
Following the capture of Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, on January 3, US President Donald Trump has supported Rodríguez’s interim government, ensuring that it functions under the tutelage of his administration and is complying with all of Washington’s demands, including access to the Venezuelan oil sector.
For now, Trump has excluded Machado from the transition process in Venezuela because he considers that he does not have enough support.
However, after the meeting in which the opponent presented Trump with the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize medal, the president described this gesture as “something extraordinary” and stated that it could “involve” the opponent in some way in the future of Venezuela.
Machado said earlier this month that he does not believe his life would be in danger if he returned to Venezuela, thanks to the “pressure” the United States is putting on Rodríguez.
Rodríguez insists that Maduro is still the president
Days after the opposition leader’s meeting with Trump, a White House official announced that Rodríguez planned to visit Washington, although he did not specify a date.
In her interview with NBC after a “successful” meeting in Caracas with the Secretary of Energy of the United States, Chris Wright, the Venezuelan interim president spoke about the possibility of traveling to that country.
“They have invited me to the United States. We are considering going there once we establish this cooperation and we can move forward with everything,” he said.
Rodríguez insisted that “Maduro is the legitimate president” of Venezuela, and that both “President Maduro and Cilia Flores, the first lady, are innocent.”
“I can assure you that I am in charge of the presidency of Venezuela, as the Venezuelan Constitution clearly establishes. And because of the amount of work I have, because of how busy I am, I can assure you that it is a very, very hard job and we are doing it day by day,” he added.
With information from Efe.
