President Donald Trump is scheduled to meet with Venezuelan opposition leader María Collina Machado at the White House on Thursday, and the party is widely expected to win the 2024 election Rejected by then-President Nicolas Maduro in front of the U.S. captured him in a daring military raid this month.
less than two weeks later U.S. troops capture Maduro and his wife in a high-security compound in Caracas and brought them to New York to face trial drug trafficking chargesTrump will host Nobel Peace Prize winner Machado, who has Denying her credibility to run Venezuela and cast doubt on his stated commitment to supporting democratic rule in the country.
“She’s a very good woman,” Trump said of Machado in an interview with Reuters. “I’ve seen her on TV. I guess we’ll just talk about the basics.”
The meeting comes as Trump and his top advisers have expressed a willingness to work with Acting President Delcy RodriguezMaduro, who was Maduro’s vice president, and others in the deposed leader’s inner circle remain in charge of the day-to-day running of the government.
Rodriguez himself also adopted Less tough stance on Trump and his “America first” policy toward the Western Hemisphere, saying she plans to continue Release prisoners detained under Maduro The move was reportedly taken at the request of the Trump administration. Venezuela freed several americans This week.
Trump said Wednesday he had a “great conversation” with Rodriguez, their first since Maduro was ousted.
“We had a phone call, a long phone call. We discussed a lot of things,” Trump told reporters. “I think we’re getting along very well with Venezuela.”
In endorsing Rodriguez, Trump also sidelined Machado, who has long been the face of the Venezuelan resistance. She has sought to build relationships with Trump and key advisers, e.g. Secretary of State Marco Rubio A political gamble by American right-wingers to align themselves with the U.S. government.
Despite her alliance with Republicans, Trump quickly snubbed her after Maduro’s arrest. Hours later, Trump said of Machado, “It’s going to be very difficult for her to be a leader. She doesn’t get support or respect at home. She’s a very good woman, but she doesn’t get respect.”
Machado took a cautious approach to avoid offending Trump, especially when won last year’s Nobel Peace Prizewhich Trump covets. She has since thanked Trump and offered to share the winnings with him, a move that received widespread attention. Rejected by Nobel Institute.
Machado’s whereabouts have been largely unknown since he went into hiding after being briefly detained in Caracas early last year. In December, she briefly reappeared in Oslo, Norway, after her daughter won the Nobel Peace Prize on her behalf.
The industrial engineer and daughter of a steel magnate began challenging the ruling party in 2004, when Súmate, an NGO she co-founded, launched a referendum to oust then-President Hugo Chávez. The plan failed, and Machado and other Sumate executives were charged with conspiracy.
A year later, she again incurred the wrath of Chavez and his allies when she traveled to Washington to meet with President George W. Bush. A photo of her shaking hands with Bush in the Oval Office remains in the collective memory. Chavez considered Bush an opponent.
Nearly two decades later, she is rallying millions of Venezuelans to reject re-election by Chavez’s successor, Maduro, in the 2024 elections. But electoral authorities loyal to the ruling party declared him the winner, despite overwhelming and credible evidence suggesting otherwise. The ensuing anti-government protests culminated in Brutal crackdown by state security forces.
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Janetsky reported from Mexico City. Associated Press Diplomacy Writer Matthew Lee in Washington contributed to this report.