‘I have no regrets’ over giving Nobel Prize to Trump, says María Corina Machado

(AFP) "I have no regrets," Madrid Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado responded Saturday about giving the Nobel Prize to Donald Trump, and explained that she is coordinating with the United States on her return to Venezuela.

"There is a leader in the world, a head of state in the world, one, who has put the lives of citizens of his country at risk for the freedom of Venezuela, and that is Donald Trump," Machado responded at a press conference in Madrid, when asked if she was not disappointed by the actions of the United States after removing the dictator Nicolás Maduro from power in a military operation in January.

"And that is something that Venezuelans will always remember and always be grateful for, so, no, I have no regrets," she added.

Her return to Venezuela

Regarding her return to Venezuela, where she lived in hiding before leaving the country to collect the Nobel in Oslo in December, Machado said she is coordinating 

with Washington.

"I am talking it over with the U.S. government and we are doing them in coordination, with mutual respect and understanding," Machado assured, affirming that Washington is "fundamental to advance in a democratic transition."

Gustavo Petro's requests

Likewise, Machado charged against Colombian President Gustavo Petro, who is at a meeting of international progressive leaders in Barcelona, for calling for a "concentration government" in Venezuela between interim President Delcy Rodríguez and the opposition.

Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado accused the Colombian president on Saturday Venezuela of "desperately seeking excuses" for there to be no election in Venezuela.

Machado pigeonholed Petro among the "actors or forces that desperately seek excuses, maneuvers, to prevent the electoral process in Venezuela from moving forward."

"Now those same actors, who in the face of fraudulent elections that violated the Constitution, insisted that at all costs it was necessary to participate, refuse to allow elections to exist," the opposition leader lamented.

"Delcy Rodríguez represents chaos, Delcy Rodríguez represents violence, Delcy Rodríguez and her regime represent terror," Machado estimated.

Along with that proposal, Petro announced that he will travel to Caracas on April 24, in what will be the first visit of a Latin American leader after the overthrow of Maduro.