Machado says she could be elected Venezuela's first female president when time is right
發佈日期: 2026-01-17 21:02
TVB News
Venezuela's opposition leader Maria Corina Machado said she believes she would become her country's first female president at the right time.
This as US President Donald Trump accepted the Nobel Peace Prize medal that Machado regifted him and described her as a "fine woman", though Trump has not yet publicly endorsed her to lead Venezuela.
During her visit to the US, Venezuelan opposition leader and Nobel laureate Maria Corina Machado participated in a panel with conservative think tank Heritage Foundation in Washington on Friday.
She appeared confident that the remnants of what she termed as Venezuela's "criminal regime" would be dismantled eventually and said there would be an orderly transition to free elections.
She said her home country is on the "threshold of freedom" under interim president Delcy Rodriguez, but cautioned about the complex road ahead.
Machado said: "This is a complex place... we are right now. Some of the dirty work is being done by them. But then the result of a stable transition will be a proud Venezuela who's going and the best ally the United States has ever had in the Americas."
Rodriguez had been Venezuela's second in command in the administration of former president Nicolas Maduro until his capture by US forces.
Machado criticised Rodriguez as a "communist" who does not represent the people.
In an interview with Fox News, Machado signalled she herself would be elected the first female president of Venezuela when the right time comes.
The day before, Machado visited the White House for the first time and presented US President Donald Trump with her medal of the Nobel Peaze Prize, an award that Trump has long coveted.
Trump later told reporters that he has decided to keep the gift because she offered it to him. "She said, you know, you've ended eight wars and nobody deserves this prize more in history than you do. And I thought that was a very nice gesture. And, by the way, I think she's a very fine woman and we'll be talking again."
The Norwegian Nobel Institute said in a statement that the prize remains inseparably to the honoree but it was her choice to give away her medal.
On Thursday, CIA director John Ratcliffe, the most senior US official to visit Venezuela since the ousting of Maduro, held a two-hour meeting with Rodriguez in Caracus to demand potential cooperation in economy and efforts to combat drug trafficking.
Officials say the visit came at the urging of Trump and is intended to lay the groundwork for a better relationship between Washington and new leaders of the South American country.
