No joint appearance with the press, no photo to show the harmony between the two. The long-awaited meeting between Donald Trump, president of the United States, and the Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado, a crucial meeting to decipher the future of Venezuela after the military intervention 12 days ago that ended with the capture of Nicolás Maduro, and his wife, Cilia Flores,
The closed-door ceremony, a rarity coming from Trump, so given to spectacle, the choice of the dining room adjacent to the Oval Office, and the fact that the meeting, a working lunch, was scheduled to partially coincide with the press conference of the spokesperson, Karoline Leavitt… all its details sent worrying signals to the Venezuelan opposition. And they once again gave the impression that Trump relegates Machado, whose suitability to succeed Maduro he expressed doubts on the same day of the intervention in Caracas, to a secondary role in the transition.
She later explained that during the meeting she had given him the Nobel medal that he received in Oslo last December. Trump, for his part, took about five hours, another rarity, to send a message on his social network, Truth, to define the appointment as “a great honor.” “She is a wonderful woman, who has been through many hardships. Maria has offered me the Nobel Peace Prize for the work I have done,” Trump wrote. “It’s a wonderful gesture of mutual respect. Thank you, Maria!” The Republican did not specify in that message whether he had accepted it, nor did he share a photo of the award. He also did not go into details about the conversation they had.
The reception of the opposition leader, who entered the premises at noon alone, dressed in white and through a side door, given that she is not a head of state, came a few hours after Trump declared in a meeting with the press that he considers the Chavista leader Delcy Rodríguez a “great person”, and added that the United States “works very well with her” since she, vice president with Maduro, took control of Venezuela with the blessing of the White House.
The meeting lasted just over two hours, after which the politician approached some supporters gathered near the White House and told them: “We have the president [de Estados Unidos] for the liberation of Venezuela.”
Afterwards, he went to the Capitol to meet with a group of senators. On his way out, he confirmed to reporters waiting for him in sub-zero temperatures that he had offered Trump the Nobel medal. “I told him that 200 years ago General Lafayette gave a medal with the effigy of George Washington to Simón Bolívar, which he always treasured,” he stated in Spanish and English. “I also stressed that just 200 years later, the people of Bolívar are returning a medal to Washington in recognition of their work in favor of Venezuela.”
He did not specify whether the award was original or a replica; Nor did he respond to the question of whether Trump had accepted it, who at that time was hosting the Florida Panthers, winners of the national hockey league, before the cameras. White House sources later told CBS that the medal was “the real thing.”
It was not possible to know if this gesture changed Trump’s mind at all, who on the same day of the surprise attack that ended with the Chavista autocrat and his wife sitting on the bench in a federal court in New York accused of crimes of “narcoterrorism” and cocaine and weapons trafficking made it clear that he does not consider Machado ideal to lead the transition. This Thursday, White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said in an appearance, while the meeting was taking place, that the president of the United States continued to doubt Machado’s ability to succeed Maduro: “It is a realistic position and it has not changed.”
“[Trump] I was looking forward to this meeting and I hoped it would be a good and positive conversation, because [ella] “She is a truly remarkable and brave voice for many Venezuelans,” he added about the meeting with the opposition leader. Regarding Rodríguez, he recalled that “[Trump] spoke directly with her this week.” “And Secretary of State [Marco] Rubio and the Administration have been in constant communication with Rodríguez and other members of the interim Government in Venezuela. They have been extremely cooperative. So far, they have met all of the demands and requests of the United States and the president.”
The nature of the closed-door meeting and Machado’s rushed intervention before the media also did not allow us to know whether she had managed to assert face-to-face the role of the opposition in Washington’s plans to protect the South American country and take charge of its oil. She did manage to say that it had been “a historic day,” and that she had been impressed by the Republican’s mastery of the situation in Venezuela. “This is not about a person, but about a movement,” he warned.
Machado had been putting a good face on the rudeness for days and working to facilitate this Thursday’s meeting, in which a lot was at stake: he needed to convince the Republican that it is not a good idea to allow Rodríguez, his great enemy, to remain in power after months in which Machado advocated for a military intervention and preferred not to criticize the extrajudicial executions of crew members (more than 100) of alleged drug boats in the Caribbean. His wishes were finally fulfilled on January 3, but they were accompanied by the disappointment of hearing the following phrase from the tenant of the White House: “[Machado] “He does not have the support or respect within the country.”
According to her press office, she arrived in Washington to convey to Trump the “gratitude of the Venezuelan people for their unwavering support for democracy and justice in the country,” as well as to ask him to “advocate for the release of all political prisoners.” In an interview with Reuters, the Republican on Wednesday defined his guest as a “nice woman,” and predicted that during the meeting they would talk “about the basics.”
Machado had already shown herself willing to share her Nobel Peace Prize with Trump. The president of the United States is obsessed with the idea that he deserves this award, because he considers that he has ended “eight or nine wars,” although that consideration is another proof of his conflictive relationship with the truth.
Regarding the possibility of receiving this honor from Machado, to whom, Trump had declared that he is counting on the Venezuelan opposition politician to offer him her award. Also, he plans to accept it, despite the fact that the Nobel Committee had already warned both that it is not transferable, because the object “can change ownership, but not the distinction.”
Trump’s decision to relegate Machado also gives the impression that the White House has chosen to turn the page on the electoral results of the 2024 Venezuelan presidential elections, which, according to a majority of international reports, was widely won by Machado’s candidate (who could not run because she was disqualified). Maduro refused to acknowledge that defeat. “I have insisted and will continue to insist that Venezuela has an elected president,” the opposition leader told Washington senators.
At this point, it is not clear if the United States plans to call a new meeting with the polls, nor when or how it could take place. Leavitt said that time would come, but he gave no impression that Washington was in a hurry. So all those questions were left unanswered again this Thursday after Machado’s visit to the White House.
