María Corina Machado

Money Moves

Returned to Venezuela on Oct. 25; says U.S. has laid out a path to 2027 elections; criticizes oil contract transparency

María Corina Machado returned to Venezuela on Oct. 25, and the U.S. has since laid out a sequence for presidential elections in 2027. Secretary of State Marco Rubio met Venezuelan Foreign Minister Oliver Blanco on Nov. 2 to reaffirm a three-phase plan. It runs from stabilization and economic recovery to political reconciliation and a democratic transition.

Updated 2 days ago

Force in Play

Returned to Venezuela in late October; said Rubio's sequence points to a 2027 presidential election and is organizing a movement.

Delta Force operators captured Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, in a pre-dawn Caracas raid on January 3, 2026. Maduro pleaded not guilty in Manhattan and is jailed in Brooklyn awaiting a June 1, 2027 trial, while Delcy Rodríguez remains acting president and has not set an election date.

Updated 4 days ago

Force in Play

Addressed supporters at a Caracas university on October 29, 2026, backing a US plan for 2027 elections and calling the transition "irreversible"; says she is not part of the government talks and did not receive an invitation to meet Delcy Rodríguez

María Corina Machado used her first public speech since returning to Venezuela to back a US plan for presidential elections in 2027, calling the transition "irreversible." She said she and her Vente Venezuela movement are not part of the talks between the government and the 2015 National Assembly, though she expects those talks to produce a new Supreme Court, a new electoral council and an election date.

Updated Nov 2

Rule Changes

As of September 2026: Backers demand her safe return and elections

Venezuela freed 39 political prisoners over the weekend, the largest release since spring. The move came days after interim President Delcy Rodríguez met Donald Trump in New York, where she promised elections but gave no date.

Updated Sep 28

Force in Play

As of May 2026: Met with Trump but received no endorsement for Venezuelan leadership

Congress hasn't declared war since 1942, though presidents have ordered 212 military strikes without formal declarations. On January 3, 2026, U.S. special forces raided Venezuela, captured President Nicolás Maduro in his residence, and flew him to New York to face narcoterrorism charges.

Updated May 22

Force in Play

As of May 2026: In Washington; Nobel platform diminished by Trump skepticism; addressed Munich Security Conference; facing potential prosecution if returns

Seven weeks after U.S. special forces captured Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro on January 3, 2026, Vice President Delcy Rodríguez has consolidated interim power through military loyalty pledges, oil privatization, and prisoner releases. In an NBC interview on February 12, she pledged 'free and fair' elections but refused to set a timeline, conditioning them on Venezuela being 'free from sanctions'.

Updated May 22

New Capabilities

As of May 2026: Nobel Peace Prize Laureate 2025

The Nobel Assembly kicked off October 2025 by awarding the Medicine Prize to three scientists who discovered the immune system's off-switch—regulatory T cells controlled by the Foxp3 gene. Mary Brunkow and Fred Ramsdell identified the gene in 2001 while studying scurfy mice that died from autoimmune storms. Shimon Sakaguchi had already discovered the cells themselves in 1995. Together, their work explained why our immune systems don't destroy us and opened the door to treatments for everything from diabetes to lupus.

Updated May 19

Force in Play

As of May 2026: In hiding since July 2024 election

Delta Force dragged Nicolás Maduro from his bedroom at 2 AM on January 3, threw him on a helicopter, and flew him to the USS Iwo Jima bound for Manhattan. The Venezuelan president now faces narco-terrorism charges in the same courthouse that convicted El Chapo.

Updated May 19