Venezuelan opposition leader and newly awarded Nobel Peace Prize recipient María Corina Machado said Wednesday that her country is effectively occupied by foreign powers and terror groups, pushing back on questions about whether she supports US military intervention.
She had previously dedicated her award to President Donald Trump.
Machado’s comments came during a press conference in Oslo, where she arrived overnight after covert travel to Norway to receive the prize. When asked about reports that the United States had seized an oil tanker off Venezuela’s coast, she said the discussion around “invasion” ignores the reality on the ground.
“Some people talk about invasion in Venezuela and the threat of an invasion in Venezuela,” she said. “And I answer, Venezuela has been already invaded.”
Machado listed multiple groups she says operate inside the country with the approval of Nicolás Maduro’s regime.
“We have the Russian agents, we have the Iranian agents. We have terrorist groups such as Hezbollah [and] Hamas operating freely in accordance with the regime,” she said. She added that Colombian guerrilla organizations and transnational cartels now control “over 60 percent of our populations,” accusing them of running drug trafficking, human smuggling, and prostitution networks.
“This has turned Venezuela into the criminal hub of the Americas,” she told reporters.
The opposition figure also argued that the regime relies heavily on illicit revenue streams. “Where do those funds come from? Well, from drug trafficking, from the black market of oil, from arms trafficking, and from human trafficking. We need to cut those flows,” she said.
Her comment comes following tension as President Donald Trump announced the seizure of a large tanker near Venezuela as part of what his administration says is an effort to restrict illegal oil shipments. The US has also deployed its largest military presence in the region in decades and has carried out maritime strikes on drug boat vessels.
Machado did not attend Tuesday’s Nobel ceremony due to security concerns. The prize was accepted on her behalf by her daughter, Ana Corina Sosa, before Machado appeared publicly hours later on a balcony at Oslo’s Grand Hotel.
The 58-year-old opposition leader has long aligned herself with analysts and US officials who argue that Maduro’s alliances with criminal and militant groups threaten regional stability. She dedicated part of her Nobel recognition to President Trump, who has claimed he deserved the award for his support of her movement.
Machado, an engineer by training, has faced repeated travel restrictions and threats from the Maduro government.
She had previously dedicated her award to President Donald Trump.
Machado’s comments came during a press conference in Oslo, where she arrived overnight after covert travel to Norway to receive the prize. When asked about reports that the United States had seized an oil tanker off Venezuela’s coast, she said the discussion around “invasion” ignores the reality on the ground.
“Some people talk about invasion in Venezuela and the threat of an invasion in Venezuela,” she said. “And I answer, Venezuela has been already invaded.”
Machado listed multiple groups she says operate inside the country with the approval of Nicolás Maduro’s regime.
“We have the Russian agents, we have the Iranian agents. We have terrorist groups such as Hezbollah [and] Hamas operating freely in accordance with the regime,” she said. She added that Colombian guerrilla organizations and transnational cartels now control “over 60 percent of our populations,” accusing them of running drug trafficking, human smuggling, and prostitution networks.
“This has turned Venezuela into the criminal hub of the Americas,” she told reporters.
The opposition figure also argued that the regime relies heavily on illicit revenue streams. “Where do those funds come from? Well, from drug trafficking, from the black market of oil, from arms trafficking, and from human trafficking. We need to cut those flows,” she said.
Her comment comes following tension as President Donald Trump announced the seizure of a large tanker near Venezuela as part of what his administration says is an effort to restrict illegal oil shipments. The US has also deployed its largest military presence in the region in decades and has carried out maritime strikes on drug boat vessels.
Machado did not attend Tuesday’s Nobel ceremony due to security concerns. The prize was accepted on her behalf by her daughter, Ana Corina Sosa, before Machado appeared publicly hours later on a balcony at Oslo’s Grand Hotel.
The 58-year-old opposition leader has long aligned herself with analysts and US officials who argue that Maduro’s alliances with criminal and militant groups threaten regional stability. She dedicated part of her Nobel recognition to President Trump, who has claimed he deserved the award for his support of her movement.
Machado, an engineer by training, has faced repeated travel restrictions and threats from the Maduro government.
