'Going back as soon as possible': Opposition leader María Corina Machado vows to return to Venezuela

Washington: Venezuelan opposition leader and 2025 Nobel Peace Prize winner María Corina Machado vowed Monday to return to her country "as soon as possible," while outlining a vision to transform the oil-rich nation into a global "energy hub."

Speaking to Fox News host Sean Hannity from an undisclosed location, Machado delivered a sharp rebuke of Delcy Rodríguez, the former vice president who was sworn in as interim president on Monday following the capture of Nicolás Maduro by U.S. forces. Machado characterised Rodríguez as "one of the main architects of torture, persecution, corruption, narcotrafficking."

Despite the installation of Rodríguez by the Venezuelan Supreme Court to ensure "administrative continuity," Machado insisted that a democratic transition remains the only path forward. She signalled her intent to end her period of exile, which began after she travelled to Norway to accept her Nobel Prize in late 2025.

"I'm planning to go back to Venezuela as soon as possible," Machado said.

The opposition leader, whose movement mobilised the 2024 campaign that challenged Maduro’s grip on power, also laid out a strategy for economic revival centred on Venezuela’s massive crude reserves.

"We will turn Venezuela into the energy hub of the Americas," Machado told Hannity, asserting that a "free Venezuela" would leverage the world's largest proven oil deposits to become a primary pillar of stability for both North and South America.

Her remarks come amid a complicated political landscape in Caracas. While the Trump administration has indicated a willingness to work with Rodríguez as a "professional" transitional figure, Machado remains the most prominent face of the democratic resistance. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio noted Sunday that while he has "admiration" for Machado, the immediate focus is on managing the vacuum left by Maduro’s removal and his subsequent extradition to New York to face narcoterrorism charges.

With inputs from AFP