Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado said US government “support” helped her travel to collect her Nobel Peace Prize in Norway, hours after the US seized an oil tanker in a dramatic escalation of pressure against the authoritarian regime of Nicolás Maduro.
Machado, who has been in hiding following Venezuela’s disputed election last year, left on a fishing boat, according to the Wall Street Journal, after slipping through military checkpoints wearing a wig as a disguise. She then took a private jet to Norway. CNN has not independently confirmed the details of Machado’s travel. The US State Department declined to comment.
Speaking to reporters on Thursday, the Nobel laureate thanked those who had “risked their lives” for her to make the trip and committed to returning home soon, whether or not Maduro is still in power.
The opposition leader has long aligned herself with the Trump administration’s argument that Maduro is linked to criminal groups and drug trafficking gangs and that he poses a threat to US national security. CNN has previously reported that US officials have held talks with people close to Machado to discuss plans for next steps if Maduro is ousted.
But on Thursday, Machado was walking a fine line between welcoming Trump’s tougher stance on Maduro and not being seen to be supporting any US-led regime change or the deadly US strikes on fishing boats in the Caribbean.
Continue reading the complete article on the original source
