Venezuelan opposition leader Machado urges 2027 elections after US‑backed change

Opposition figure Maria Corina Machado returned to Venezuela from exile and called for presidential elections in 2027, praising the United States for what she described as opening a “floodgate to freedom”.

Speaking at a news conference in Caracas, Machado thanked President Donald Trump, his administration and Secretary of State Marco Rubio for the “vision, courage and action on 3 January” that she said led to the removal of President Nicolás Maduro. She said Rubio “has set out a sequence of events aimed at moving toward a democratic transition that makes clear the holding of presidential elections in 2027”.

Machado, who received the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo after fleeing Venezuela in December, said she had returned to “mobilise society”. She was escorted by a motorcade and greeted by supporters, while former Vice‑President Delcy Rodríguez, who has been acting president since Maduro’s removal, criticised the fanfare.

Rodríguez later announced that elections would be held “with the world as witness”, without giving a specific date. Machado also criticised a recent US‑Venezuela oil agreement that would give the United States a 20 percent stake in Venezuela’s oil reserves, saying it lacked the transparency demanded by Venezuelan society.

International

Source: Al Jazeera. Photo: Matheus Ximenes / Pexels.