{"id":11128,"date":"2025-12-15T16:27:34","date_gmt":"2025-12-15T21:27:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/greatamericanewsdesk.com\/?p=11128"},"modified":"2025-12-15T16:27:35","modified_gmt":"2025-12-15T21:27:35","slug":"nobel-laureate-praises-trumps-tough-stance-on-maduro","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/greatamericanewsdesk.com\/foreign-affairs\/nobel-laureate-praises-trumps-tough-stance-on-maduro\/njackson\/2025\/12\/","title":{"rendered":"Nobel Laureate Praises Trump\u2019s Tough Stance on Maduro"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Nobel Peace Prize winner Mar\u00eda Corina Machado, one of Venezuela\u2019s most prominent pro-democracy leaders, is strongly backing President Donald Trump\u2019s hard-line approach toward Nicol\u00e1s Maduro\u2019s authoritarian regime. In a new interview that aired Sunday on CBS\u2019s Face the Nation<\/em>, Machado said Trump\u2019s strategy has given hope to millions of Venezuelans suffering under socialist rule.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Asked whether she supports increased U.S. sanctions on Venezuelan officials and further U.S. seizures of illicit oil shipments, Machado was unequivocal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cLook, I absolutely support President Trump\u2019s strategy, and we, the Venezuelan people, are very grateful to him and to his administration, because I believe he is a champion of freedom in this hemisphere,\u201d<\/strong> Machado told host Margaret Brennan.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Speaking from Oslo<\/strong>, where she accepted the Nobel Peace Prize after spending nearly a year in hiding, Machado noted that she had dedicated part of the award to Trump.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cI think that he finally has put Venezuela in where it should be, in terms of a priority for the United States\u2019 national security.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Machado argued that Maduro\u2019s regime is far more dangerous than a conventional dictatorship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cThis is a very complex criminal structure that has turned Venezuela into a safe haven of international crime and terrorist activities, starting with Russia, Iran, Cuba, Hezbollah, Hamas, the Colombian guerrilla [groups], [and] the drug cartels operating freely and directed in partnership with Maduro and his regime.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Machado has long been one of Maduro\u2019s most effective opposition figures. After she overwhelmingly won the opposition primary in 2023, the regime barred her from running, then orchestrated an election that independent experts later declared \u201cmathematically and statistically impossible.\u201d Despite that, Maduro claimed victory and refused to relinquish power. Machado endorsed a stand-in candidate but remained the movement\u2019s central figure\u2014until she was forced into hiding for her safety.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, speaking publicly for the first time in months, Machado is calling for increased international pressure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cWe want every legal action through law enforcement \u2026 not only from the United States, also from other Caribbean, Latin American and European countries that further block the illegal activities of the regime.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Her argument is straightforward:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cWe need to increase the cost of staying in power by force. Once you arrive to that point in which the cost of staying in power is higher than the cost of leaving power, the regime will fall apart. And it\u2019s the moment where we advance into a negotiated transition.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

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Additional Context: Trump and the Nobel Peace Prize<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Machado\u2019s praise comes as Trump has repeatedly been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, particularly for:<\/p>\n\n\n\n