By Christopher F. Schuetze, Jim Tankersley, and Rosanne Kropman
She inspired a nation to vote out the autocratic regime of Venezuela, spending months among supporters, filling streets with those willing to risk violence and arrest for a chance to hear her speak.
Now, with President Nicolás Maduro accused of election fraud and his administration threatening her safety, María Corina Machado, the widely admired opposition leader, finds herself in hiding — solitary.
In a series of rare, comprehensive virtual interviews since she rallied millions to oppose Maduro in July, Machado revealed that she is secluded in a confidential location within her nation. With the risk that any assistance could lead to her betrayers or detentions, she noted that she hasn’t received visitors for months.
Often called the “Iron Lady” of the country for her unwavering conservative stance and resolve, Machado confessed to a deep “yearning for companionship.”
Her mother has advised her to practice meditation. She has not done so.
Instead, the former legislator is tirelessly engaging in virtual discussions with foreign ministers and human rights advocates, urging them to recall that a broad coalition of nations recognizes her preferred candidate, Edmundo González, as the legitimate victor of the July elections, and that he should assume office in January.
Just hours post-election, Maduro announced his victory without furnishing any proof. In reaction, Machado’s team gathered and made public vote-tally receipts from over 80% of polling stations.
The results indicated that González had achieved nearly 70% of the votes cast. (Fearing for his safety, González, 75, fled to Spain in September.)
Machado contended that Venezuela now presents a highly attractive opportunity for President-elect Donald Trump: “a significant foreign policy accomplishment in the very near future.”
She believes that Maduro is currently in a weakened position — scorned by his own citizens, fractured within his party — such that renewed pressure from Trump and his allies could very well compel the autocratic leader to negotiate his exit.
This strategic pressure might include reversing the sanctions relief initiated by President Joe Biden and pursuing additional criminal charges against Maduro’s associates, she suggested.
She commended Trump’s choice of Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida as secretary of state, and Rep. Mike Waltz of Florida as national security adviser, key roles in shaping U.S. policy towards Venezuela.
Rubio, who has been acquainted with Machado for over a decade, has built his political reputation partly on an uncompromising stance against leftist authoritarianism in Latin America.
He played a vital role in developing Trump’s previous Venezuela policy, a so-called maximum pressure strategy that implemented extensive sanctions on the country’s crucial oil sector while endorsing a young legislator, Juan Guaidó, who claimed to hold the position of interim president.
That strategy failed to dethrone Maduro, who branded Guaidó a proxy of the U.S., with some analysts arguing that it only served to reinforce the autocrat, demonstrating his ability to withstand an aggressive offensive from the world’s leading power.
However, Machado is convinced that this time is unique. She asserts that Maduro is financially stricken, has alienated critical allies such as Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, and has lost such a considerable amount of public backing that he has resorted to the most severe repression tactics yet to cling to power.
Perhaps more importantly, she indicated that the Venezuelan populace now stands largely united behind an elected president, González.
Machado has not yet spoken with Rubio or Waltz following their nominations but stated that their teams maintain “constant communication.”
While an array of analysts note that the recent election exposed Maduro’s vulnerabilities, few are convinced that the autocrat, who is under investigation for crimes against humanity by the International Criminal Court and could face arrest if removed from power, has meaningful reasons to step down.
“She says, ‘Maduro has no option, he must negotiate,’” remarked Phil Gunson, an analyst with the International Crisis Group who has spent over two decades in Venezuela. “I contend he does have choices, and his choice is to cling to power.”
Many opposition figures have emerged and faded in Venezuela through the years; few have captured as extensive a coalition as Machado has. The eldest child of a notable steel manufacturing family, she has dedicated nearly twenty years towards the quest to oust Maduro and his predecessor, Hugo Chávez.
In 2002, she initiated a voting rights organization, Súmate, which unsuccessfully tried to dethrone Chávez via a recall vote. Súmate received financial support from the U.S.
It has only been recently, following a decisive victory in a primary election in 2023, that Machado has emerged as the figurehead of the Venezuelan opposition. When Maduro’s regime prohibited her from participating in the general election, she successfully secured González’s position on the ballot as her replacement.
On the campaign trail, she was regarded almost as a spiritual leader, frequently adorned in white, vowing to restore democracy and reunite families torn apart by economic turmoil and mass exodus.
“María!” her supporters cried, as they fell into her embrace.
Currently in hiding, she wakes up in solitude, prepares meals, and contemplates the nation’s future each day alone. Her three grown children reside abroad; it remains uncertain when she might see them once more. When she appears in online videos, she employs a plain white backdrop, likely an attempt, perhaps in vain, to obscure her whereabouts.
Machado refrained from disclosing whether she even dares to venture outside. “It’s a tough trial,” she remarked regarding her seclusion.
González, now in Spain, has concentrated on advocating for their cause in dialogues with European leaders.
During the interviews, Machado’s voice frequently rose to a near-frantic speed, expressing her annoyance that certain nations weren’t taking more substantial action to isolate Maduro.
“We Venezuelans did everything the global community asked of us,” she asserted, alluding to the millions who faced repercussions for supporting her movement. “Now it’s time for the international community to reciprocate.”
According to the watchdog organization Foro Penal, nearly 2,000 individuals have been imprisoned in a post-election clampdown by the Maduro regime. Among them are some of Machado’s closest allies. At least two individuals have died after being detained, and another two dozen were killed amid protests shortly after the July election, the youngest victim, Isaías Fuenmayor, being merely 15 years old.
The extensive suffering of those who have supported her weighs heavily on her conscience.
“How many more lives lost?” she implored, her voice climbing. “How many more individuals gone missing?”
