The Venezuelan opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize 2025 recipient, María Corina Machado, stated this Tuesday in an interview with the French channel LCI that Donald Trump is the only leader in the world who has done something to allow the freedom of Venezuela, during her European tour from Paris.
Machado granted the interview to journalist Darius Rochebin one day after meeting with the President of the French Senate, Gérard Larcher, and two days after her encounter with Emmanuel Macron at the Élysée Palace.
"I believe we would not be where we are today if it weren't for the decisions made by President Trump, specifically referring to bringing Maduro before international courts," declared the opposition leader.
Machado was also asked whether Trump saved her life. "I have risked my life, that is without a doubt. When I was in hiding, at the moment I left the country..." she answered, without evading the question.
The opponent acknowledged that her arrival in Oslo in December 2025 to receive the Nobel was made possible thanks to the support of the U.S. government. "If we were able to go to Oslo in December, it was because we had the support of the U.S. government and the Venezuelan people, who also risked their lives so that I could be there," she stated.
Machado was in hiding for 16 months within Venezuela before leaving the country in a high-risk operation organized by the entity Grey Bull Rescue, which transported her by land and sea to Curacao and then by plane to Europe.
Her daughter Ana Corina Sosa received the award in Oslo on December 10, 2025 on her behalf, in front of King Harald V and Queen Sonia of Norway, because Machado was unable to arrive on time for the official ceremony.
The most symbolic gesture of the relationship between Machado and Trump occurred on January 15, 2026, when the opposition leader presented the U.S. president with the physical medal of her Nobel Peace Prize, framed, as a recognition of his "unique commitment" to the Venezuelan cause.
The capture of Maduro, which Machado describes as the decisive event, took place on January 3, 2026 in Caracas, during the operation called "Absolute Determination". U.S. special forces arrested the Venezuelan leader and his wife Cilia Flores in a forty-minute operation supervised by Trump from Florida.
Maduro was transferred to New York and confined at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, charged with narcoterrorism conspiracy, conspiracy to import cocaine, and possession of firearms, for leading the so-called "Cártel de los Soles."
Since then, Venezuela has been experiencing a political transition with Delcy Rodríguez as interim president, facing pressure to call for free elections before the end of 2026.
After her time in Paris, Machado is scheduled to travel to Madrid, where she will receive the Golden Key from the City Hall on April 17 from the mayor José Luis Martínez-Almeida, and will participate on April 18 in a massive event with the Venezuelan diaspora at Puerta del Sol alongside Edmundo González Urrutia.
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