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Machado to lead Venezuela 'when the right time comes'
Gulf Today
|January 17, 2026
Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado has insisted she will be elected president "when the right time comes" despite the United States sidelining her after overthrowing Nicolas Maduro.
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President Donald Trump has backed Maduro's former vice president Delcy Rodriguez as interim leader of the oil-rich country following the Jan.3 US military operation to seize Maduro.
"I believe I will be elected when the right time comes as president of Venezuela, the first woman president," Machado told Fox News's Fox & Friends show broadcast on Friday after she met Trump in Washington.
Machado's party has presented evidence that Maduro stole the 2024 election-claims supported by Washington and much of the international community.
But Trump has said that Machado does not have enough support among Venezuelans, and opted to stick with Rodriguez, so long as she toes the line on US access to Venezuela's vast oil reserves.
"I want to serve my country where I am more useful. I got a mandate, and I have that mandate," Machado told Fox.
Machado, 58, on Thursday presented her Nobel Peace Prize medal to Trump in a bid to win over the US president.
"He deserves it," she said. "And it was a very emotional moment, I decided to present the Nobel Peace Prize medal on behalf of the people of Venezuela."
This story is from the January 17, 2026 edition of Gulf Today.
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