“We have been fighting for this for years,” Machado writes in a letter published on X, and continues:
“It has been worth the effort.”
María Corina Machado was awarded the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize for her fight for freedom and democracy in dictatorial Venezuela.
The Peace Prize laureate has previously been questioned for her support for US President Donald Trump and his Venezuela policy, but she hit back at the criticism in Oslo in December.
"Some people are talking about an invasion of Venezuela, the threat of an invasion of Venezuela. And I answer that Venezuela is already invaded," she said at the time.
She writes on Saturday that exiled opposition politician Edmundo González Urrutia should become the country's new president. He has been seen by several international observers as the rightful winner of the election.
Trump, for his part, said in response to a direct question at his press conference on Saturday that he does not see Machado as an interim leader if the United States were to directly or indirectly govern Venezuela "until we can carry out a safe, orderly and legal transition of power."
"I think it would be very difficult for her to be a leader. She doesn't have enough support," he said, continuing:
She is a nice woman, but is not respected.
