President Donald Trump confirmed he will host Venezuelan opposition figure and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Maria Corina Machado at the White House next week, following the dramatic U.
S. capture of former strongman Nicolas Maduro and his transfer to New York to face federal charges.
The announcement came during a Thursday night interview with Fox News host Sean Hannity, where Trump said, I understand shes coming in next week sometime, and I look forward to saying hello to her. According to the Washington Examiner, the meeting will mark the first face-to-face encounter between Trump and Machado, whose political fortunes have been reshaped by the fall of Venezuelas longtime socialist ruler.
Machado had previously told Hannity that she had not spoken with Trump since winning the Nobel Peace Prize in October, a recognition she publicly dedicated to the former president. At the time, she credited Trump for bringing into existence a peace agreement between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, a diplomatic breakthrough that many in the foreign policy establishment had dismissed as unattainable under a conservative, America First administration.
Pressed by Hannity on whether he would accept the award from her, Trump signaled he was receptive. Ive heard that she wants to do that, Trump said. That would be a great honor.
The White House has yet to release details about the upcoming meeting, but the agenda is expected to focus heavily on the recent U.S. military operation that toppled Maduros regime. Maduro now faces federal charges tied to drug trafficking and narco-terrorism, the culmination of years of evidence that his socialist government had become deeply enmeshed in the global narcotics trade.
The Trump administration has framed the operation as a decisive step to halt the flow of drugs facilitated by the Venezuelan state, a problem long downplayed by previous administrations more interested in diplomatic niceties than hard security realities. At the same time, Washington has made no secret of its interest in stabilizing and eventually opening up Venezuelas vast oil reserves, a strategic resource that had been mismanaged and weaponized by the Maduro regime.
Machado, a longtime critic of Maduro and of the leftist project that destroyed Venezuelas economy, praised the U.S. action in her own appearance with Hannity this week. She heaped flattery and praise on Trump for the operation, even as she was passed over to lead the countrys transitional government despite her international acclaim and opposition credentials.
U.S. intelligence officials reportedly advised against backing Machado as Maduros immediate successor, warning it could trigger instability in an already fragile nation. Trump himself acknowledged those concerns, saying it would be very tough for [Machado] to be the leader because she doesnt have the support within or the respect within the country.
Instead, the administration has opted to recognize former Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodriguez as the interim authority, on the condition that she cooperate with U.S. efforts to steer Venezuela away from socialism and chaos. Trump has made clear that Rodriguezs position is far from secure, warning she will fare worse than Maduro if she resists U.S. intervention and refuses to break with the failed policies of the past.
Behind the scenes, reports suggest Trumps decision not to elevate Machado may have been influenced by lingering resentment over the Nobel Peace Prize process. Some accounts indicate he felt slighted by the Nobel committees refusal to honor him directly and believed Machado should symbolically hand the award to him in recognition of his diplomatic achievements.
Those same reports claimed Machado might have been tapped to lead Venezuelas transitional government had she declined to accept the prize in her own name and instead dedicated it fully to Trump. Responding to that narrative, Machado later said, I would certainly love to be able to personally tell him that we, the Venezuelan people because this is a prize of the Venezuelan people certainly want to give it to him and share it with him.
During his interview with Hannity, Trump used the Venezuela discussion to highlight what he views as a broader record of peace-making that has gone largely unacknowledged by Western elites. When you put out eight wars, in theory, you should get one for each war because some of these wars were going on for 30 years, he said, pointing to the long-running conflict between Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo as one example.
I got so many wars [stopped]. Its such a beautiful thing, Trump added, underscoring his argument that a strong, unapologetically conservative foreign policy can deliver stability where decades of multilateral talk have failed.
As Machado prepares to visit Washington, both leaders appear poised to leverage that recordone as a symbol of resistance to socialism, the other as a president determined to reshape the global order on terms more favorable to American interests and to those who reject authoritarian leftist regimes.
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