Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado is intensifying her push for US support to secure a credible electoral process in Venezuela, warning that the current political momentum could be lost if Washington grows comfortable with the status quo. Speaking from a modest Washington office where she has been working with her team in exile, Machado said she speaks directly with President Donald Trump, urging him to commit to a clear timeline that leads to free and fair elections. "We have a great opportunity for the Americas and a momentum we cannot waste," she said, adding that she tells Trump publicly exactly what she tells him privately.

Machado, 58, a longtime leader of Venezuela's democratic opposition and a Nobel Peace Prize recipient, has spent recent months travelling — meeting European leaders, speaking with California business figures, and promoting the English-language edition of her book, The Freedom Manifesto. Despite announcing her return to Venezuela "in weeks" during a speech in Madrid, she has not yet gone back. She acknowledged that US support weighs on her decision, saying the timing must be right. In the meantime, the chavista political structure — built around the movement founded by the late Hugo Chávez — remains firmly in control in Caracas, now led by acting President Delcy Rodríguez following the detention of Nicolás Maduro by US forces in January.

Machado described cautious, uneven change inside Venezuela since Maduro's removal. More than 600 political prisoners have been released, and there are signs of increased civil mobilisation. But she said hundreds remain imprisoned, annual inflation stands at 650%, and 86% of Venezuelans live in poverty. "The products are on the shelves, but people cannot afford them," she said, warning of growing social tension. She dismissed any suggestion that Venezuela is no longer a dictatorship, noting that executive control over the judiciary, legislature, and electoral authority leaves no ambiguity.

On the question of US influence over Venezuelan oil revenues and business access, Machado drew a clear line: a genuine popular election. She argued that Trump has been the only world leader willing to risk political capital and resources for Venezuelan freedom, but stressed that real sovereignty depends on democratic legitimacy. She also pushed back against the idea that elections could not happen before 2027, saying that technically about 40 weeks are needed once a new electoral authority is appointed — a process she says should begin immediately.

While Machado lobbies in Washington, Venezuela's acting president Rodríguez is travelling to The Hague to represent Caracas at the International Court of Justice in a long-running territorial dispute with Guyana over the oil-rich Essequibo region — the first time Rodríguez has left the country since Maduro's capture. The trip illustrates how Venezuelan officials are simultaneously managing international diplomacy and US demands, including opening the state oil industry to foreign companies and releasing political prisoners, while Machado insists that without genuine democratic change, neither investors nor the Venezuelan diaspora will commit to rebuilding a country with the potential, she argues, to produce five million barrels of oil per day.