Machado says that Rodríguez "is following orders" from Trump and that the country will be free "with the support of the US"

BarcelonaOne day after his closed-door meeting with Donald TrumpVenezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado held a press conference this Friday afternoon in Washington. At the event, the anti-Chavista leader asserted that she will return to Venezuela "as soon as possible" and reiterated her alignment with the White House: "Venezuela will be free with the support of the United States," she stated. It was also learned this Friday that CIA Director John Ratcliffe met with Venezuelan interim president Delcy Rodríguez in Caracas on Thursday.

At the press conference, which took place at a Heritage Foundation venue In the US capital, Machado referred to Rodríguez, accusing her of being "ideologically communist" and of having devised a strategy to carry out "financial transactions with countries that are enemies of the United States," attempting to circumvent the trade sanctions that Washington applies to Caracas, especially regarding oil. Furthermore, the anti-Chavista leader wanted to make it clear that Rodríguez "is following orders" from Trump and that there is no agreement between the Miraflores Palace and the White House. In the dispute between Machado and Rodríguez for leadership of the country, the opposition leader has launched a particularly significant attack against the interim president. One of the reasons given for Trump's rejection of Machado to lead the transition is that she does not have enough domestic support.However, according to Machado, Rodríguez "doesn't control the armed forces," but rather "the repressive structure that has them neutralized," and she emphasized: "The armed forces are with us in more than 80% of cases. Otherwise, we wouldn't have obtained the ballots," she said, referring to the recent elections in which the opposition participated. Regarding the conversation with Trump, she declined to give details: "I won't make them public. That's partly why it was a private conversation," she explained. Machado, however, described the US president as "a human being who is pained by what we Venezuelans are experiencing." In this sense, she criticized the other world leaders for not having "the resolve to call things by their name." Machado also praised Trump's pressure and interference throughout the continent. After celebrating that a US-led political change in Venezuela would negatively impact the Cuban government, the Nobel Peace Prize laureate called for "understanding the implications" of US actions in the central and southern hemispheres. "For the first time in history, we will have an America free of communism," exclaimed Machado, who did not hesitate to say that a hypothetical fall of Chavismo in Venezuela would be "the American equivalent of the fall of the Berlin Wall."

Delcy Rodríguez meets with the CIA in Caracas

Hours before the press conference, it was revealed that on Thursday, the same day Trump and Machado met at the White House, CIA Director John Ratcliffe met with Delcy Rodríguez in Caracas. This was reported to Reuters by sources within the US administration, who detailed that the conversation focused on cooperation between Venezuela and the United States. The meeting took place at the behest of the US president himself, to "convey the message that the United States expects an improved working relationship" with Rodríguez compared to the relationship with Maduro, according to US administration officials. An image showing Rodríguez and Ratcliffe shaking hands has been circulated on Truth Social, Trump's social media platform. 47 Venezuelan soldiers killed in US attack

Nearly two weeks after the US attack on Venezuela, the country's Defense Minister, Vladimir Padrino, reported on Friday that 47 Venezuelan soldiers died in the military operation. Last week, Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello stated that 100 people died in the attack, without specifying which were civilians and which were military personnel. Also last week, the Venezuelan Attorney General's Office opened an investigation into the "dozens" of deaths. Cuba, however, had provided details of the military deaths, maintaining since a few days after the attack that 32 Cuban soldiers cooperating with the Venezuelan army were killed.