Venezuela Opposition leader wants transition without ‘revenge’

Exiled Venezuelan Opposition leader Maria Corina Machado said on Tuesday (June 2, 2026) that she wanted to negotiate a democratic transition in the South American nation without “surrender” or “revenge.”

Awarded the Nobel Peace Prize last year, Ms. Machado advocates for a democratic transition in Venezuela, now led by Delcy Rodriguez, who has been acting president since Nicolas Maduro was seized in a U.S. military raid in January.

“Those who now hold interim power have also had to recognise that Venezuela cannot be stabilised, recovered, or governed indefinitely without the democratic majority that expressed itself on July 28,” Ms. Machado said in a speech at the Oslo Freedom Forum.

Venezuela held a presidential election on July 28, 2024, in which Ms. Machado, having been declared ineligible, was unable to run.

Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia was a last-minute replacement for Ms. Machado, and the Opposition considers him the rightful winner. Mr. Maduro was declared the winner, but the Opposition says there was massive fraud.

In recent weeks, Ms. Machado has said she is determined to negotiate a transition with Rodriguez, who used to be Mr. Maduro’s Vice President.

“Negotiation is now necessary, not as surrender, not as revenge, but as a serious, firm, and responsible effort to transform a new political opening into a democratic solution,” she said.

U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration has been content to let Rodriguez remain in power as she bends to their demands, and has opened oil and mining sectors to private capital.

According to observers, Washington is not keen on Ms. Machado’s rapid return to Venezuela, even as she keeps insisting that she wants to go back “very soon”.