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María Corina Machado, Nobel Peace Prize 2025 and the main leader of the Venezuelan opposition, met last Wednesday with the Foreign Minister of Portugal, Paulo Rangel, in São Bento, Lisbon, to discuss the situation of Venezuelan political prisoners and Portugal's support for the democratic transition in Venezuela.
The agenda of the meeting focused on three main points: the protection of the Portuguese community residing in Venezuela, the freedom of political prisoners, and Portuguese support for a democratic transition coordinated with partners from the European Union.
The Portuguese Ministry of Foreign Affairs described the meeting as an opportunity to reaffirm the priority that Portugal places on the Portuguese community in Venezuela and the situation of political prisoners.
Rangel went beyond diplomatic protocol and explicitly demanded the release of political prisoners in Venezuela during the meeting, according to the Venezuelan media outlet Confirmado.
On the same day, Machado was also received by Prime Minister Luís Montenegro, who described the meeting as taking place in a climate of great hope and characterized the current moment in Venezuela as a democratic transition.
Montenegro expressed hope for the holding of completely free elections in Venezuela in the near future, underscoring the need for a solution in which Venezuelans can determine their own destiny.
The visit to Lisbon is part of an extensive European tour that Machado began on April 13 in Paris, where she met with President Emmanuel Macron.
From April 17 to 18, Machado was in Madrid, where she received the Golden Key from the City Hall from the mayor José Luis Martínez-Almeida and led a crowded event with more than 200,000 people at Puerta del Sol alongside Edmundo González Urrutia, where she called for to move forward without delay towards the elections.
The tour takes place at a time of profound political transformation in Venezuela, following the capture of Nicolás Maduro by the United States in January 2026 during the so-called Operation Absolute Resolution.
Since then, Delcy Rodríguez took on the role of acting president and signed an agreement with Washington to hold free elections before the end of 2026 under international supervision.
However, the release of political prisoners is progressing unevenly: according to the Foro Penal, as of April 19, there were still 477 political prisoners detained in Venezuela, despite the interim government claiming to have granted amnesty to more than 8,000 individuals.
Machado also leads the Finance Committee in the negotiations with Marco Rubio's team, which took place in Chicago on April 21, while a U.S. envoy arrived in Venezuela this Thursday to implement a three-phase transition plan.
Portugal has a special connection with Venezuela due to the large Portuguese community residing in the country, which makes Lisbon a stakeholder with a direct interest in Venezuelan stability and in the well-being of its citizens amid any political change process.
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