Washington — Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado appears to be open to U.S. military action in her country to help oust President Nicolas Maduro.
“I will welcome more and more pressure so that Maduro understands that he has to go, that his time is over,” the Nobel Peace Prize winner said in an interview Friday with “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan.” “I will insist something that I’ve said several times before, this is not conventional regime change. This cannot be compared to other cases, like countries in the Middle East.”
“We had an election,” she continued. “Regime change was already mandated by over 70% of the population, and what we need is support to enforce that decision.”
When Machado was asked how she squares military action with receiving the Nobel Peace Prize, Machado said “in order to maintain freedom and to achieve freedom, you do need strength.”
“What we’re fighting for is precisely freedom in order to have democracy, and democracy in order to have peace,” she said.
Maduro is facing increasing pressure from the Trump administration to relinquish his power. President Trump has threatened land strikes as the U.S. has built up its military forces in the region and has conducted more than 20 strikes on suspected drug smuggling boats in the region. The Trump administration has defended the threats and actions as necessary to stop drugs from being smuggled into the U.S.
Machado said she did not have details on Mr. Trump’s threats of land strikes.
“We are not involved, and we will not get involved into another nation’s policy for their own national security,” she said.
This week, the Trump administration imposed sanctions on Maduro’s nephews and half a dozen shipping vessels accused of transporting oil from Venezuela, a day after U.S. authorities seized control of a sanctioned oil tanker near the country.
Watch more of Brennan’s interview with Machado Sunday on “Face the Nation.” The full conversation will also be posted on the “Face the Nation” YouTube channel.
