[00:00:00] Speaker 1: With me now, David Smolansky. He's a Venezuelan opposition politician and advisor to the opposition leader and winner of the Nobel Prize, Maria Carina Machado. David, thanks so much for joining me again.

[00:00:10] Speaker 2: Jim, thank you so much for having me.

[00:00:12] Speaker 1: So, David, first, tell me your reaction to this U.S. military operation over the weekend. Do you, does Machado, does the opposition welcome the U.S. military action to remove Nicolas Maduro?

[00:00:26] Speaker 2: Yeah, I would like to start this interview to say thank you to President Trump and the whole administration of the United States, Secretary Rubio, Secretary Hedges, for this quick, smooth, and clean operation that happened in Venezuela that captured Nicolas Maduro and his wife, Celia Flores, where they will face charges tomorrow in New York. They did what the International Criminal Court couldn't do for six years. And definitely, this is a huge step for freedom in Venezuela.

[00:01:05] Speaker 1: Let me ask you this, because administration officials, when they were discussing possible action in Venezuela, for months had discussed the importance of restoring democracy there. So it was notable when President Trump, in the wake of this operation, seemed to dismiss Machado as a viable leader of the country. I want to play his comments and get your thoughts on the other side. Mr.

[00:01:31] Speaker 3: President, is the U.S. aware of the location of opposition leader Machado? And have you been in contact with her? No, we haven't. Mr.

[00:01:37] Speaker 4: President, Mr. President, on Monday. I think it would be very tough for her to be the leader. She doesn't have the support within or the respect within the country. She's a very nice woman, but she doesn't have the respect. Mr. President, is it possible that the U.S. ends up administrating Venezuela for years?

[00:01:58] Speaker 1: She doesn't have the respect within the country. What's your reaction to hearing that from the president?

[00:02:02] Speaker 2: Well, in that regard, with due respect to President Trump, Maria Corina Machado is the most trusted leader in Venezuela. She's got all the legitimacy. When she won a primary with 93% of the vote, then when she endorsed President-elect Edmundo Gonzalez, after she was illegally banned from running, President-elect won with 70% of the outcome. And she's very capable. She's brave. She's courageous. She was in hiding for over a year, and I don't have any doubt that she's going to be with President-elect Edmundo Gonzalez the leaders of the rebuilding of Venezuela, where obviously the U.S. is going to be our main allies, and we will have plenty of other allies in Latin America and Europe and beyond. But Maria Corina Machado is a leader who is out of this world, and she's got support from almost every Venezuelan.

[00:03:08] Speaker 1: But if she doesn't have support of the U.S. president, how does she have a viable path to power?

[00:03:13] Speaker 2: Well, she has a viable path to power because she's got the support of the people. She's got the legitimacy not once but twice, as I said, winning the primary in 2023 and then the July 28th election in 2024. And then she has led a resistance chapter that contributed, I have to say, contributed for where we are right now. And I have to say, Jim, and sorry if I'm taking a bit more time on this answer, the support that we're having not only from the U.S., but from many, many governments across the world. We're having support in Latin America from Argentina, Paraguay, Ecuador, just to mention three of them, Panama. In Europe, we have the support of the U.K., France, and Italy, and the vast majority of the U. members, Israel, Morocco, New Zealand, Korea, Australia. So the support that Maria Corina Machado is having and the democratic movement is having is global, and it has been very, very important to get to this point.

[00:04:20] Speaker 1: In your contacts with the administration since this operation to remove Maduro, have you received any assurances from the Trump administration about the role of the opposition?

[00:04:31] Speaker 2: They know what we have done. They know what we have achieved. They know the efforts that we have made. I also have to say that something that we have come up is that there still are in Venezuela more than 800 political prisoners. The majority is suffering from psychological tortures and physical tortures. And something that I need to add, Jim, is that Delcy Rodriguez, the person who is trying to remain in power, she's a member of the cartel. She's sanctioned here in the U.S., Switzerland, Canada, the European Union. She has been one of the enablers of the biggest money laundry scheme and corruption that you have ever seen, not only in Venezuela, but in whole Latin America. And she has been one of the mastermind of rigged elections in Venezuela. And I have to say that she's a communist as well. So, again, on that regard, she's also responsible of those political prisoners. And I think it's very important the release of them as soon as possible.

[00:05:42] Speaker 1: Rodriguez has changed her rhetoric to some degree in the last 24 hours, initially condemning the operation, but more recently saying Venezuela has the right to peace, to development, to sovereignty, to a future. And President Trump at least has not taken off the table the possibility of her remaining in power if she abides by American pressure. It seems. Are you concerned that she might supplant Machado in the opposition? In other words, that the Trump administration could live with Delcy Rodriguez as the leader as long as she cooperates with the U.S.?

[00:06:17] Speaker 2: That won't be possible because, again, she's a member of the cartel de los soles, son's cartel. I have to say that before she was the illegitimate vice president, she was the foreign ministry, and she worked for a lot of years on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. She was one of the mastermind of open Venezuelan doors to China and Russia. She's someone that you cannot trust because she has participated in negotiations, tables, and dialogue in the past, and she doesn't have a word, and this administration knows that. I understand that transitions are messy, that sometimes you have to deal with people that are completely different from what you think, but the legitimacy is on the side of Maria Corina Machado. The leadership is on Maria Corina Machado. The support of the people is on Maria Corina Machado, and we will be doing some actions and statements during the next days that people will support.

[00:07:16] Speaker 1: The president has repeatedly mentioned oil in the wake of this operation. He said we need to access the oil. We heard him in his comments there on Air Force One. He has not mentioned or does not seem to be prioritizing a democratic transition at this point. Are you concerned that this administration, this president, values access to Venezuelan oil more than restoring democracy?

[00:07:43] Speaker 2: I think, Jim, that oil in Venezuela, which is the country with the largest oil reserve in the world, doesn't exclude democracy, and we have said that to this administration. We have said that to the Congress, and I know, Jim, for over 100 years, U.S. companies have been in Venezuela working on oil. We have presented a plan. Its name is the $1.7 trillion opportunity where we want all companies, and especially from the U.S., which is our closest neighbor on this topic, to be involved because of corruption and money laundering, and because oil was used to fund narco-terrorist activities. Our oil industry was destroyed. We used to produce, at the end of the last century, in 1999, over 3 million oil barrels a day. And this regime now is not producing even a million oil barrels a day, and that's because the oil company was used to fund narco-terrorist activities and, at the same time, was used for corruption and money laundering. So, again, we are open for U.S. oil companies to invest in Venezuela. We will live in free market. We will live in private property. I have to say that many companies were nationalized, confiscated, and expropriated. That's illegal, and we want to do exactly the opposite, promote investment, promote free market, and that goes with democracy and access to justice.

[00:09:27] Speaker 1: You know, as I listen to you, it sounds to some degree like you're making a case, right, a case that you've made to this administration. I just wonder if you have confidence that the administration is listening.

[00:09:38] Speaker 2: Well, you interviewed me, I think, the first time like four or six weeks ago, and you asked me about increasing pressure, and you asked me that if I was confident that this was going to increase, and I said yes, and I was confident, and it happened. It happened on January 3rd. That is a day that will change forever the direction of Venezuela. I am confident that we will have, at the end of the day, an orderly and democratic transition that is going to be led by the leaders that Venezuelans chose, in this case, Maria Corina Machado and President-elect Edmundo Gonzalez. They got, again, the legitimacy, the respect, the credibility, and we want to work with the U.S. We want to work with democratic governments in Latin America, and we want to work with all our different allies that have been with us on the most difficult moments.

[00:10:32] Speaker 1: Final question. Can you tell us where Maria Corina Machado is now?

[00:10:38] Speaker 2: I cannot tell where she is, but probably we will know soon. Okay.

[00:10:42] Speaker 1: David Smolansky, thanks so much for joining. We appreciate the time.