Venezuelan opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize ​winner Maria Corina Machado said on Monday ‌(January 5, 2026) she hasn’t spoken to ​U.S. President Donald Trump since October 2025.

“Actually, I spoke with President Trump on October 10, the same day the (Noble Peace) Prize was announced, (but) not since then,” Ms. Machado said on Fox News’ “Hannity” program. She ​was awarded the prize for her ⁠fight against what the Norwegian Nobel Committee called a dictatorship.

Ms. Machado — widely seen now as deposed Venezuelan President ​Nicolas Maduro’s most ⁠credible opponent — left Venezuela last month to travel to Norway to accept the award, and hasn’t returned since.

“I’m planning ‌to go as soon as ‌possible back home,” she told Fox News when asked about her ‍plans to return to Venezuela. The interview was Ms. Machado’s first since the U.S. launched strikes ‍on Venezuela on Saturday and captured its president.

Welcomes U.S. action

She welcomed the U.S. actions as “a huge step for humanity, for freedom and human dignity.” Venezuela’s vice president and oil minister Delcy Rodriguez was sworn in as interim president on Monday, ⁠but Washington’s move over the weekend has left many to wonder about ​the future leadership of the South American ⁠country.

Mr. Trump on Saturday dismissed the idea of working with Ms. Machado, saying “she doesn’t have the support within or the respect within the country”.

Venezuelan President Nicolas ​Maduro landed in ‌the ​United States on Saturday (January 3, 2026), multiple news outlets reported, arriving in upstate New York following his ​capture in an ⁠overnight U.S. operation.

Video showed a plane ​arriving at ⁠Stewart International Airport about 60 miles (97 km) northwest of ‌New York ‌City, with several U.S. personnel in ‍FBI and other gear boarding ‍the aircraft after it landed. TV news networks, including CNN, Fox News and MS Now, identified ⁠a person who disembarked from ​the plane as Mr. Maduro. 

Mr. Maduro was seen surrounded by FBI agents as he descended the boarding stairs of a U.S. government plane at a New York state National Guard facility, and was slowly escorted along the tarmac.

The leftist leader was expected to be flown by helicopter to New York City, where he faces drug trafficking charges.

With Reuters, AFP inputs