President Donald Trump’s escalating pressure campaign against Venezuela’s socialist regime — from designating the country’s drug cartels as transnational terrorist organizations to doubling the bounty on Nicolás Maduro to $50 million and deploying the largest military force the Caribbean has seen in decades — has found an unexpected champion in Venezuela’s top democratic leader.
Speaking at the America Business Forum on video in Miami, Maria Corina Machado — Venezuela’s 2025 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate — delivered her strongest endorsement yet of Trump’s strategy, calling it “absolutely correct” and a historic turning point in the hemisphere’s struggle against tyranny and organized crime.
“Nicolás Maduro is not a legitimate head of state,” Machado said. “He is the head of a narco-terror structure that has declared war on the Venezuelan people and the democratic nations in the region. These criminal networks survive on money from drug trafficking, gold smuggling, arms and human trafficking. You need to cut those cash flows — and that’s precisely what President Trump is doing to protect millions of lives. Maduro started this war, and President Trump is ending it.”
Her remarks, delivered before an audience of U.S. business leaders, Latin American diplomats, and members of the Venezuelan exile community, set the tone for a wide-ranging conversation about Venezuela’s transformation, the global threat of authoritarian alliances, and her sweeping plan to rebuild her country’s shattered economy.
U.S. military buildup in the Caribbean
Machado’s comments came as the U.S. military continues to expand its presence off Venezuela’s coast in an operation the White House says targets drug trafficking and criminal networks tied to Caracas.
In August, Washington launched a major deployment in the southern Caribbean, forming a Joint Task Force that included three destroyers equipped for air, anti-submarine, and missile defense missions, plus an amphibious group of about 4,500 troops. P-8 reconnaissance aircraft and long-range surveillance flights have mapped trafficking routes.
The buildup grew in September with 10 F-35B fighters based at Ceiba Air Base in Puerto Rico and armed MQ-9 Reaper drones deployed to Rafael Hernández Airport. Officials say the aircraft can strike drug labs, clandestine airstrips, and vessels linked to trafficking networks.
On Oct. 24, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered the Gerald R. Ford carrier strike group — which includes the cruiser USS Normandy and destroyers USS Thomas Hudner, Ramage, Carney, and Roosevelt — into the Caribbean. The force, with more than 4,000 personnel and some 90 combat aircraft, is described by retired Venezuelan officers as the centerpiece of a “final phase” aimed at leaders of the Cartel of the Suns and the Tren de Aragua gang, and at critical sites inside Venezuela.
So far, operations have focused on maritime targets. U.S. strikes have destroyed fast boats allegedly carrying narcotics, most intercepted off Venezuela’s coast, killing at least 61 alleged traffickers.
Officials say the task force may soon shift operations ashore as traffickers avoid sea routes. The scale of the buildup has fueled speculation that Washington’s real goal is to weaken or remove the Maduro regime, though U.S. officials have offered few details about potential actions inside Venezuela.
The Miami Herald reported last week that according to sources familiar with the situation, the administration has selected targets inside Venezuela and is ready to launch attacks.
‘A prize for a nation in resistance’
A month after receiving the Nobel Peace Prize, Machado still frames the honor as a collective victory rather than a personal one.
“This prize is not only a profound honor for Venezuelans,” she said. “It is a recognition of the will of our people — a nation that came together to fight the worst criminal regime around values, dignity, justice, freedom and the dream of bringing our children back home.”
She paused before adding a political dimension: “It is also a prize for those leaders around the world — under the leadership of President Trump — who understand that this is a universal cause, one that concerns the security of our entire hemisphere.”
The applause from the Miami audience — many of them Latin American exiles from Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua — underscored how deeply the Venezuelan democratic struggle resonates in U.S. politics.
Proving fraud inside a dictatorship
Machado’s rise to global prominence stems from what many describe as one of the most audacious acts of civil resistance in modern Latin American history: proving electoral fraud inside a dictatorship.
In Venezuela’s July 28, 2024, presidential election, the democratic movement led by Machado mobilized more than a million volunteers across the country to monitor and collect digital copies of official voting tallies, known as actas, before Maduro’s security forces could seize them.
“Everybody told us it was impossible to win against this criminal structure,” Machado recalled. “We knew we not only had to win — we had to prove it.”
Using smuggled printers, laptops, and scanners, her team transmitted verified vote counts within hours and made them public worldwide, showing opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez had won.
“In less than 24 hours, the whole world saw our landslide victory,” she said. “They had the arms, the power, the fear — we had the people and the truth. And guess who is going to win.”
Her evidence, later corroborated by independent organizations, confirmed that the opposition had overwhelmingly defeated Maduro, forcing the regime into a defensive posture and reigniting international outrage.
‘Liberating Venezuela will free the region’
Machado sees Venezuela’s liberation as part of a larger democratic chain reaction across Latin America.
“Liberating Venezuela will mean that Cuba and Nicaragua will soon be free again,” she said. “For the first time in history, the Americas could be free of communism, dictatorship and narco-terrorism.”
It’s a vision that resonates deeply in Miami, home to hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans, Cubans and Nicaraguans who see their struggles as intertwined.
Machado pledged that the Venezuelan diaspora — nearly nine million strong — will finally have a home to return to.
“A third of our population has fled,” she said. “But as soon as Maduro falls, you will see hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans coming back home. We want our children back. We will reunite our families in a proud, prosperous, and safe country.”
Pragmatic diplomacy
Asked about her approach to left-leaning governments in Brazil, Mexico, and Colombia, Machado struck a tone of pragmatic realism.
“With Brazil, we hope for strong, transparent, mutually beneficial relations,” she said. “With Mexico, we share a common challenge — dismantling the drug cartels. We expect to work hand in hand with both Mexico and the United States on this.”
Her words about Colombia carried a more emotional weight.
“Colombia has been the main recipient of our migrants — almost three million Venezuelans live there,” she said. “I thank the Colombian people for their generosity. But I also say this: Colombia will never have peace until Venezuela is free. Our destinies are tied together.”
She smiled wistfully, describing a moment she often imagines: standing on the Simón Bolívar Bridge that links both nations, arms open as thousands of Venezuelans cross back home. “That day is coming soon,” she said.
‘A bridgehead of America’s adversaries’
Machado described Venezuela’s current predicament not merely as a political or humanitarian crisis but as a continental security emergency.
“Venezuela has been turned into the main bridgehead of the adversaries of the United States,” she warned. “Iran, Russia, and China have captured our territory, our institutions, our resources.”
She offered a detailed account of how each power operates inside the country.
“Iran has turned Venezuela into its satellite, operating from the heart of the Americas,” she said. “They have trained National Guard units, provided drone technology, built armed drones in our territory, and used our financial system to launder resources for groups such as Hezbollah. They’ve even issued over 10,000 Venezuelan passports to operatives who can move freely across the region.”
Russia, she added, has supplied intelligence and weapons systems, while China’s financial and technological reach runs deepest.
“China’s $60 billion in loans made Venezuela its largest debtor in history,” she said. “And in 2012, [leader Hugo] Chávez gave a Chinese state company the exclusive right to map our entire geological resources. Today, only Beijing knows the full extent of our gold, minerals and rare earths.”
Her conclusion was stark: “These actors are operating just three hours from Florida. A democratic transition will dismantle these networks and make Venezuela the strongest security ally of the United States in the Americas.”
Roadmap for rebuilding
If Maduro were to recognize the opposition’s victory tomorrow, Machado said, her plan for Venezuela’s transition is ready to launch.
“From day one, we offered him a negotiated transition, and he rejected it,” she said. “Now the country is suffering its worst wave of repression — hundreds disappeared, tortured, abused. We have 870 political prisoners. Many are my colleagues, my friends, my children.”
Her first priority, she said, would be restoring basic order.
“In the first 100 hours, we need to take control of the borders, secure the nation, and liberate all political prisoners,” Machado said. “We must stabilize power, fuel, food and medicine supplies, and bring transparency to our public accounts. Transparency is the essence of trust.”
From there, she said, she envisions an ambitious transformation that could recast Venezuela’s image on the global stage.
“Venezuela will go from being the criminal hub of the Americas to the energy and technology hub of the Americas,” she said. “We will open a $1.7 trillion investment opportunity — not just in oil and gas, but in mining, power, AI, and tourism. Venezuela will become the new global frontier for innovation and wealth creation.”
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