MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Machado outlines her vision for Venezuela when democracy returns

Machado was highly acclaimed by business leaders, officials, and Venezuelan diaspora representatives

Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado said during her telematic appearance at the Miami-held America Business Forum that if her country were liberated, so should be Cuba and Nicaragua.

She also envisioned the first 100 days following the fall of Nicolás Maduro's Chavista regime would focus on food, medicine, security, and order. In addition, with the world's largest oil reserves under democratic control, investments would pour in. The Nobel Peace Prize winner insisted her country would then become a regional engine of stability and expressed her hopes that Venezuela would resurface after the dictatorship, which would in turn bring about “the liberation of Cuba and Nicaragua.”

She dedicated her Nobel Prize to the courage and will of the Venezuelan people who united to confront the regime.

Moreover, she deemed US President Donald Trump to be key to achieving a democratic transition. She endorsed Washington's strategy of classifying Venezuelan drug cartels as transnational terrorist organizations and increasing the reward for the capture of Maduro, who, in her view, is not a legitimate head of state, but the head of a “narco-terrorist structure” that wages war against the Venezuelan people and the region.

Machado also warned about the serious involvement of China, Russia, and Iran in Venezuela, claiming the country had become a logistical base for criminal networks and adversaries of the US.

She mentioned Iran's military presence, providing training, drones, technology, and the use of the financial system for asset laundering (including groups like Hezbollah), with over 10,000 Venezuelan passports issued to facilitate movement; Russia's supply of weapons, intelligence, and agents; and China's over US$60 billion in loans in exchange for unprecedented access and control over strategic resources (gold, minerals, rare earths) and information.

Machado also described the massive citizen organization, involving over a million volunteers, that monitored the recent election, which had to “smuggle computers, scanners, printers” to disseminate the truth of their “overwhelming victory,” which was rejected by the regime.

In this scenario, her immediate priorities upon taking control would be citizen protection, securing borders, and releasing all political prisoners (over 170). The first 100 days would focus on providing fuel, security, medicine, and reestablishing economic order.

She also highlighted the importance of restoring solid ties with neighbors such as Brazil, Mexico, and Colombia. The latter which “will never have peace until Venezuela is free,” Machado underscored while recalling that 80% of Venezuela's population was in poverty despite having the world's largest oil reserves. Her proposal includes an ambitious program of investments and privatizations, estimated at up to US$1.7 trillion in opportunities (energy, mining, infrastructure, technology), including a focus on Artificial Intelligence and tourism.

Additionally, she promised the nearly nine million Venezuelans who were forced to flee the country that they “will be able to return” to a safe and prosperous nation.