Machado’s Vision for Venezuelan Democracy: A Year to Election?
In a recent interview with POLITICO, Venezuelan opposition figure María Corina Machado estimated that the country could see new democratic elections within the next year. However, her discussions with President Donald Trump regarding the initiation of this process remain absent.
“We believe that a genuine transition process with manual voting could be accomplished in nine to ten months, depending on when we kick things off,” Machado stated during her conversation with POLITICO’s Dasha Burns for the show “The Conversation” on Tuesday.
This optimistic projection emerges as bipartisan Congressional leaders are pressing the president to expedite the handover of U.S. control over Venezuela, following Nicolás Maduro’s capture in January.
Contrastingly, Trump has indicated that U.S. oversight might persist for years, especially with a focus on the strategic development of the country’s oil extraction capabilities. In a recent interview with The New York Times, he remarked, “only time will tell” how long America will maintain its watchful eye over Venezuela.
Although Machado met Trump at the White House post-Maduro’s capture, their discussions did not cover her anticipated timeline for elections. Nonetheless, she expressed her confidence in the swift establishment of democratic processes in Venezuela, drawing a stark comparison to the protracted nation-building efforts witnessed in Iraq and Afghanistan during the Bush presidency.
“In our case, we have a robust democratic culture and an organized society. Our legitimate leadership enjoys significant popular support, and our armed forces are also poised to back a democratic transition,” she articulated.
Machado pointed to recent Venezuelan elections—held under “very tough circumstances”—as a testament to the populace’s readiness to embrace U.S.-supported democratic elections. She referenced the presidential elections in 2024, which Maduro’s regime claimed to have won, along with parliamentary elections in 2025, both of which received criticism from independent monitors for lacking fairness and freedom.
“If we managed to hold elections in such extreme conditions, imagine what we can achieve now, especially with the backing of the U.S. government, reassuring our people that they are not isolated,” she concluded.
For further insights, listen to the complete interview on the latest episode of “The Conversation.”
