WASHINGTON — Maria Corina Machado is vowing to return to Venezuela soon, despite the risks the opposition leader faces once she’s back on her native soil.
“I need to be there,” she told The Post in an exclusive interview. “I want to go back as soon as possible.”
She said that she is desperate to help usher democracy into the country — and when that’s achieved, President Trump will have his own Berlin Wall-style dramatic moment by the end of his presidency in 2029.
“The legacy to the world is going to be huge,” Machado predicted. “You’re going to have a prosperous Venezuela and the region. … If you make a comparison in history, this would mean for the Americas as much as the fall of the Berlin Wall had for Europe. It’s equivalent.
“For the first time in history, you will have the Americas free of communism, dictatorship and narcoterrorism for the first time.”
Machado said trusting the Venezuelan people to govern themselves is the fastest path to that goal — arguing that they can repair their broken nation and broken economy within three years.
Machado spoke exclusively with The Post on Friday, weeks after Trump on Jan. 3 ordered the arrest of Nicolás Maduro, a stunning move that opposition leaders say finally cracked a criminal regime that has ruled Venezuela for nearly three decades through terror, fraud and alliances with America’s adversaries.
“This is the threshold of freedom,” Machado said. “What President Trump did was historic. He understood this wasn’t just about Venezuela — it was about dismantling a criminal structure that threatens the entire Western Hemisphere.”
Machado is ready to do whatever she can to help lead her country through the transition. For now, that means meetings with lawmakers and leadership in Washington, but she’s determined to return home as soon she can.
The Nobel Peace Prize laureate spent 16 months hiding in isolation inside Venezuela, before she fled the country in December.
She said she understands the danger of returning — but insisted that Maduro’s deputy, Delcy Rodríguez, and the other remnants of the Chavista socialist regime cannot deliver the Venezuela that the US, or Venezuelans, need.
The president has kept the Maduro regime in place, so long as Rodriguez continues to comply with Washington’s demands, such as allowing the US to sell its lucrative oil — telling The Post on Friday that Rodriguez has “been terrific.”
For now, he has not discussed steps to transition Venezuela to a democracy — though he has a warm relationship with Machado, who gave him her Nobel Peace Prize on Jan. 15.
‘Worth every risk’
Machado lived underground in her own country after she went into hiding — unable to see family, hug friends or move freely as the regime hunted opposition leaders.
She said the repression hasn’t eased since Maduro’s arrest — it has simply shifted.
Rodríguez, she said, now rules through fear.
“She designed the torture system,” Machado said. “Terror is the only thing sustaining the regime.”
According to Machado, students across Venezuela are now openly protesting — blocking highways, demanding the release of political prisoners — actions she said were “unthinkable” before Maduro was taken into US custody.
“It’s not safe for anyone who believes in freedom,” she said. “But freedom is not free.”
Machado painted a grim picture of a country once rich beyond imagination — and now poorer than Haiti.
Venezuela holds the largest proven oil reserves in the world, yet 86% of its population lives in poverty, she said. Teachers earn about $1 a day. Pensions are worth less than a dollar a month.
The destitute conditions, plus the brutality of the regime and rampant crime, has caused nearly 9 million Venezuelans — almost a third of the population — to flee.
“Mothers beg to see their children again,” Machado said. “Grandparents say they don’t want to die before meeting their grandchildren in person.”
She argued that socialism didn’t just collapse Venezuela’s economy — it shattered families and turned the country into a hub for narcotrafficking, human smuggling and foreign hostile powers.
“Venezuela was invaded,” she said, citing deep ties to Cuba, Iran, Russia and China. “It became a satellite of Tehran just three hours from Florida.”
Why democracy matters — for Trump’s legacy
If Venezuela can transition to a democratic, legitimate government, she believes displaced Venezuelans — many of who landed in the US, contributing to the migrant crisis — will return home.
“Unlike other diasporas that have somehow cut their ties with their countries, Venezuelans want to go back,” she said. “I’m talking about millions of millions that will go on their own means back home, but they will do it the minute they know that there is a future for them, a future with security and freedom.”
Machado said Maduro’s arrest was only the first step — and warned that without a full democratic transition, Trump’s gains could evaporate as soon as he leaves office.
“If Delcy Rodríguez stays, nothing truly changes,” she said. “There will be no rule of law, no trust, no stability. Venezuelans will not come home under a criminal.”
But with a legitimate government, Machado said, Venezuela could transform overnight — producing millions of barrels of oil a day, attracting billions in American investment and reversing mass migration.
That, she argued, is how Trump’s so-called “Donroe Doctrine” — a term coined in a 2025 cover of The Post — will become permanent.
“This can be done in three years, and I believe it will happen, and we have to take advantage of such a clear, strong and courageous leadership as the president’s,” she added.
She predicted that a free Venezuela would accelerate democratic change in Cuba and Nicaragua and finally rid the hemisphere of communist dictatorships and narco-states.
“For the first time in history, the Americas could be free of communism and narcoterrorism,” she said.
‘Trust the Venezuelan people’
During a meeting last week at the White House while giving Trump her Nobel Peace Prize, Machado said she delivered a simple message directly to the president: trust the Venezuelan people.
“We share the same values,” she said. “Family. Faith. Hard work. We love baseball. We want to build, not flee.”
She believes that trust is already fueling bravery on the streets.
“What you’re seeing now would not have happened before Jan. 3,” she said, referring to instances of student walkouts and civil disobedience. “People know they are not alone.”
“I ought to be there. This is a spiritual struggle, not just a political one,” she said. “Venezuela will be free.”
“And when history looks back, this moment — and President Trump’s role in it — will be remembered for generations,” she added.
