Venezuelan opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Maria Corina Machado has proclaimed the arrival of her nation’s ‘hour of freedom’ following a decisive US military operation targeting strongman Nicolas Maduro. The dramatic development marks a potential turning point in Venezuela’s prolonged political crisis.
In a powerful statement issued Saturday, Machado declared that opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia must immediately assume his constitutional presidential mandate. The opposition coalition maintains that Gonzalez Urrutia legitimately won the July 2024 election, despite Maduro’s disputed reelection which drove Machado into hiding for months.
The political upheaval follows an early-morning US military strike on Caracas, prompting Machado’s triumphant social media announcement. Currently abroad at an undisclosed location after secretly traveling to Oslo in December to accept her Nobel Prize, Machado dedicated the honor to US President Donald Trump while endorsing American intervention in her homeland.
Machado emphasized the critical need for vigilance and organization during what she termed the ‘Democratic Transition,’ stating: ‘Today we are ready to enforce our mandate and take power.’ She further demanded that Gonzalez Urrutia be ‘recognized as Commander in Chief of the National Armed Forces by all officers and soldiers.’
The opposition leader had been barred from the 2024 presidential race by institutions loyal to Maduro, leading to Gonzalez Urrutia’s emergence as the consensus opposition candidate. While internationally praised for her democratic advocacy, Machado has faced criticism for her alignment with Trump’s administration.
Gonzalez Urrutia echoed the historic significance of these developments, posting on social media platform X: ‘These are decisive hours, know that we are ready for the great operation of the reconstruction of our nation.’ The Nobel Committee had previously awarded Machado its peace prize specifically for ‘her struggle to achieve a just and peaceful transition from dictatorship to democracy.’