By Kimberly Hayek

Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado celebrated President Donald Trump for making the decision to capture Nicolás Maduro, in an appearance on Fox News’ “Hannity” on Monday.

“January 3rd will go down in history as the day justice defeated tyranny,” Machado told host Sean Hannity. “It’s a milestone, and it’s not only huge for the Venezuelan people and our future, I think it’s a huge step for humanity, for freedom, and human dignity,” she said.

“A free Venezuela means, first, a security ally, dismantling the criminal hub of the Americas and turning it into a security shield, the strongest ally to dismantle all these criminal structures that have made so much damage and harm to our people and to the American people as well.”

The 58-year-old pledged to make Venezuela “the main ally of the United States in Latin America.”

“We will bring rule of law. We will open markets. We will give security to foreign investment,” she said.

Machado said that she would help bring home millions of Venezuelans forced to flee, to rebuild a strong, prosperous nation and open society.

“We will leave behind all the destruction this socialist regime, criminal regime, has brought to our people and turn Venezuela into the main ally of the United States in Latin America,” she said.

Before the Jan. 3 raid that ended Maduro’s regime, Machado was awarded the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize on Oct. 10 and dedicated it to Trump because “he deserved it.”

“I dedicate this prize to the suffering people of Venezuela and to President Trump for his decisive support of our cause,” she said in an X post on the day she was awarded.

Machado said she spoke with Trump the same day the prize was announced, but not since. She expressed gratitude “on behalf of the Venezuelan people for his courageous vision” in taking “historical actions” against the “narco-terrorist regime.”

She said Trump’s decision to capture Maduro has brought 30 million Venezuelans closer to freedom and made the United States safer.

Trump has said the United States will run Venezuela ahead of a peaceful transition of power.

“We’re going to run the country until such time as we can do a safe, proper, and judicious transition. So, we don’t want to be involved with having somebody else get in,” Trump said.

Machado noted she would “love to” personally present the Nobel Peace Prize to Trump, saying that “the Venezuelan people certainly want to give it to him and share it with him.”

Machado received more than 92 percent of the vote in a 2023 opposition primary organized by civil society. Maduro, however, barred her from the ballot. She replaced herself with ally Edmundo Gonzalez, who defeated Maduro in a landslide despite unfair election conditions.

After the primary, Machado went into hiding in Venezuela for more than 16 months, emerging only for the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony. She did not immediately go back, out of concern for her life, but now plans to return “as soon as possible.”

She has also considered reparations for the family of Laken Riley and others who lost loved ones at the hands of Venezuelan migrants under Maduro’s regime.

An executive order signed by Maduro on the day of his capture, however, mandates “persecution and detention of every Venezuelan that supports President Trump’s actions.” Fourteen journalists were detained that day alone.

Machado labeled Venezuelan acting leader Delcy Rodriguez as “one of the main architects of torture, persecution, corruption, narco-trafficking” with ties to Russia, China, and Iran.

Rodriguez, a socialist who served under Maduro as deputy leader before his arrest, is “rejected by the Venezuelan people,” Machado told Hannity, urging free elections in which she says the opposition would win more than 90 percent of the vote.