Trump to Meet Venezuelan Opposition Leader Machado as US Oversees Transition

The prospect of talks with Machado gained momentum following the U.S. operation that captured Maduro.

Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado waves a national flag during a protest called by the opposition on the eve of the presidential inauguration, in Caracas, Venezuela, on Jan. 9, 2025. Juan Barreto/AFP via Getty Images

President Donald Trump will meet Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado in Washington on Thursday, as questions mount over Venezuela’s political future following the U.S. capture of former leader Nicolás Maduro.

A White House official told The Epoch Times that the Trump–Machado meeting is scheduled for Jan. 15.

Trump was asked by reporters aboard Air Force One on Jan. 11 about his meeting with Machado, after telling Fox News last week that a meeting was being arranged.

“I look forward to that meeting,” Trump replied.

The meeting would be Trump’s first in-person encounter with the 58-year-old opposition figure, who said last week that she had not spoken with the U.S. president since she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize at the end of 2025.

The prospect of talks with Machado gained momentum following the U.S. operation that captured Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, and exfiltrated them to the United States to face narcoterrorism charges. Maduro and Flores have pleaded not guilty.

Maduro’s removal ignited speculation about who could ultimately lead Venezuela, but Trump has dismissed suggestions that Machado could immediately assume the presidency, saying she lacks sufficient domestic backing.

“She doesn’t have the support within or the respect within the country,” Trump said on Jan. 3.

Venezuela is currently being led by acting leader Delcy Rodríguez, who previously served as deputy to Maduro and was sworn in after Maduro’s capture left the presidency vacant.

Trump also said on Jan. 3 that the United States would effectively oversee Venezuela during an interim period ahead of a peaceful transition of power.

President Donald Trump takes questions from members of the press aboard Air Force One on Jan. 11, 2026. Samuel Corum/Getty Images

“We’re going to run the country until such time as we can do a safe, proper, and judicious transition. So we don’t want to be involved with having somebody else get in,” Trump said at the time.

In a recent Fox News interview, Trump said that Venezuela is currently incapable of holding credible elections because of widespread instability.

“They wouldn’t even know how to have an election right now,” Trump said. “The country has become Third World.”

Machado has praised Trump for authorizing the operation that led to Maduro’s capture, calling it “the day justice defeated tyranny.”

“It’s a milestone, and it’s not only huge for the Venezuelan people and our future,” Machado said in a Jan. 5 appearance on Fox News. “I think it’s a huge step for humanity, for freedom, and human dignity.”

Machado has urged Washington to help transform Venezuela into “the main ally of the United States in Latin America,” calling for “dismantling the criminal hub of the Americas and turning it into a security shield.”

“We will bring rule of law. We will open markets. We will give security to foreign investment,” Machado said.

She also said that if she were to lead the country, she would work to bring home millions of Venezuelans who had been forced to flee and help rebuild Venezuela into a strong and prosperous nation.

Machado was announced as the winner of the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize on Oct. 10, months before the Jan. 3 U.S. raid that ended Maduro’s rule.

“I dedicate this prize to the suffering people of Venezuela and to President Trump for his decisive support of our cause,” she wrote in an Oct. 10 post on X.

Nobel Peace Prize laureate María Corina Machado waves from the balcony at the Grand Hotel in Oslo, Norway, on Dec. 11, 2025. Lise Aserud/NTB via Reuters

In subsequent interviews, Machado said she would “love to” personally present the Nobel Peace Prize to Trump, saying that “the Venezuelan people certainly want to give it to him and share it with him.”

The Norwegian Nobel Institute responded by clarifying that Nobel Prizes cannot be transferred or shared.

“The facts are clear and well established. Once a Nobel Prize is announced, it cannot be revoked, shared, or transferred to others. The decision is final and stands for all time,” the institute said in a Jan. 9 statement.

In December 2025, Machado predicted that Maduro’s exit was inevitable, saying that Trump’s policies had been decisive in weakening his grip on power.

General view of the ‘El Palito' refinery building in Puerto Cabello, Venezuela, on Dec. 18, 2025. Jesus Vargas/Getty Images

Venezuela, which was a founding member of OPEC and has the world’s largest proven oil reserves, has seen crude output collapse from more than 3 million barrels per day in the early 2000s to less than 1 million per day in recent years, amid mismanagement, corruption, underinvestment, and sanctions.

Trump met with executives from major U.S. oil companies at the White House on Jan. 9 to discuss a plan to invest $100 billion in Venezuela to help rebuild its dilapidated oil industry and boost production, an initiative he said could ultimately benefit American consumers.

Trump said on Jan. 11 that he is inclined to keep ExxonMobil out of Venezuela after its CEO expressed doubts about investing in the country’s oil sector.