WASHINGTON: Venezuela’s main opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, who escaped from Venezuela in disguise in October to receive the Nobel Peace Prize that she then dedicated to Trump, has vowed to return home quickly, praising US President Donald Trump for toppling her enemy Nicolas Maduro and declaring her movement ready to win a free election.

“I’m planning to go back to Venezuela as soon as possible,” said Machado. “We believe that this transition should move forward,” she told Fox News in an interview. “We won an election (in 2024) by a landslide under fraudulent conditions. In free and fair elections, we will win over 90pc of the votes.”

Trump, however, has said the US needs to help address Venezuela’s problems before an election, calling a 30-day timeline unrealistic. “We have to fix the country first. You can’t have an election. Theres no way the people could even vote,” Trump told NBC.

On the other hand, the United Nations said the US air strikes on Venezuela and the seizing of the country’s leader on the weekend clearly “undermined a fundamental principle of international law”.

US raid undermines international law: UN

“States must not threaten or use force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state,” Ravina Shamdasani, spokeswoman for the UN rights office, told reporters in Geneva.

“And this is what we are seeing,” she said, calling on the international community to “come together with one voice... to make clear that this is an action that in contravention of the international law that was set up by member states”.

US commandos backed by warplanes, the navy and air strikes, forcibly seized Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores on Saturday.

Maduro, who became president in 2013 after taking over from his mentor Hugo Chavez, appeared in a New York court to deny ‘drug trafficking and other charges’ brought by Washington, insisting he had rather been kidnapped.

Venezuela’s first female head of state, Rodriguez, has wavered between angry defiance and potential cooperation with Trump as the latter has threatened another strike if her government displeases him.

On the other hand, Trump has said the US is now in charge of Venezuela and will help revive its oil industry.

Trump said the US would secure interests, notably access to oil, by forcing cooperation with interim leader Delcy Rodriguez.

Speaking to US House Repu­licans, Trump said he would meet oil companies soon.

Published in Dawn, January 7th, 2026