Trump says he will meet Venezuela opposition leader María Corina Machado

Donald Trump said he plans to meet Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado, days after launching an operation that resulted in the capture of President Nicolás Maduro and after he threatened land strikes against drug cartels in Latin America. Trump had dismissed working with Machado over the weekend, saying “she doesn’t have the support within or the respect within the country,” but told Fox News on Thursday that Machado was “coming in next week sometime” and that he “look[s] forward to saying hello to her.” Asked whether he would accept Machado’s Nobel peace prize if she gave it to him, Trump said: “I’ve heard that she wants to do that.

That’d be a great honour.” Machado said earlier this week she had not spoken to the US president since she won the prize in October. Trump has not publicly made the same offer to Delcy Rodríguez, Venezuela’s interim president; in a New York Times interview on Wednesday he said the US was “getting along very well” with Rodríguez and that they were “giving us everything that we feel is necessary.” The White House did not immediately respond when reached for additional details on the Machado meeting.

On Thursday Rodríguez’s government began releasing an “important number” of political prisoners, including several foreigners, in what appeared to be a concession to the US.

Key Topics

Politics, Donald Trump, María Corina Machado, Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, Delcy Rodríguez