Machado says she is willing to meet with Delcy Rodríguez to discuss transition

Bogotá.- Venezuelan opposition figure María Corina Machado said on Monday that she is willing to meet with the acting president of her country, Delcy Rodríguez, to discuss "a schedule" for democratic transition, a process she again described as "irreversible".

"If it is necessary to exchange in any meeting for the purpose of defining a transition schedule, then it will be done. But I have said it, any process is based on the recognition of July 28, 2024 and for a transition", expressed Machado, winner of the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize, in a virtual meeting with Colombian media such as the newspaper El Tiempo and the radio station Caracol Radio.

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Machado thus referred to the 2024 presidential elections in which the opposition claims the victory of its candidate, Edmundo González, but the electoral authorities gave the victory to Nicolás Maduro for a third term that began on January 10, 2025 and ended abruptly with the intervention of the US when he had seven days left to complete the first year of his new term. In the opinion of the opposition leader, the Venezuelan government was convinced that the members of the government "were untouchable and that's why they are not prepared to accept that this (the transition) is irreversible." "These guys are being forced to carry out processes against their own essence. Everything that supports the Maduro regime is repression," Machado added.

Trump's Meeting with Petro

When asked about the meeting that the presidents of the United States, Donald Trump, and Colombia, Gustavo Petro, will have this Tuesday in Washington, in order to turn the page on a stormy year in the bilateral relationship, the Nobel laureate stated that it is "important". The meeting, after a year of criticisms and offensive comments from both sides and with Petro having only six months left in office, was agreed upon in a phone call that the two leaders had on January 7th to reduce tensions following Maduro's capture by the United States. In that sense, Machado stated that the meeting is an opportunity for the Colombian president to "clearly define himself" because "you cannot be with crime and oppression and with the Venezuelan people" at the same time, referring to Petro's closeness to the Chavista government. "I hope Mr. Petro understands that this process (of transition in Venezuela) goes further and that his doubts finally dissipate," added the opposition leader.