As millions of Venezuelans wait to see what will become of their economically and politically devastated country, a fight has erupted between two female leaders over the country’s future leadership and the support of the US president.
On one side is Maria Colina Machado, an opposition leader and Nobel laureate who has made a name for herself in recent years for her tenacious fight for democracy in Venezuela, facing off against ousted former dictator Nicolás Maduro.
She largely went into hiding after Venezuela’s disputed 2024 presidential election, after which government-controlled election authorities declared Mr. Maduro the winner, allowing Mr. Maduro to cling to power until he was arrested by U.S. special forces in a stunning raid two weeks ago.
Her rival is President Maduro’s vice president, Delcy Rodriguez, who is now settling into her new role as acting president. Rodriguez is a loyal member of the Old Guard and is considered a strong Maduro defender. But she is walking a precarious tightrope as she tries to appease Maduro’s supporters both in Washington and at home.
At the center of their struggle is a man more than 3,000 miles away. President Donald Trump ordered a deadly raid in Caracas, during which he declared the United States would “run” Venezuela.
President Trump has so far refrained from a second attack on Venezuela, but the threat of military intervention remains. He recently said his administration would begin targeting land-based drug cartels after months of airstrikes against suspected drug smuggling ships at sea. And he continues to maintain a large US military fleet in the Caribbean to continue Caracas’ strong military power.
Perhaps more importantly, Trump’s choices could affect the future of Venezuela’s leadership and who takes the helm.
On the surface, it seems simple – President Trump praised Rodriguez but refused to endorse Machado, even though she has strong allies within the administration.
But discussions between President Trump and other world leaders showed that his opinion could soon reverse. Praise can turn to threats and vice versa, and the one-on-one meeting Machado has scheduled at the White House on Thursday could change everything.
Both Mr. Machado and Mr. Rodriguez have direct communication with the U.S. president. On Wednesday, President Trump spoke by phone with Rodriguez, calling her a “wonderful person” and saying they “get along very well.”
Machado takes it a step further by meeting face-to-face. She is scheduled to have lunch with President Trump on Thursday during his visit to Washington, D.C., according to the White House schedule. But opposition leaders may face an even tougher battle thanks to one coveted peace prize.
She has some powerful allies in the White House. Secretary of State Marco Rubio also praised her work and was among those who nominated her for the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize. Trump himself called Machado a freedom fighter who “must be safe and alive!” before taking office last year.
But after Machado won the Nobel Prize, that support seemed to wane, although President Trump has made no secret of his desire to win the Nobel Prize. President Trump said last week: “I can’t think of anyone in history who deserves the Nobel Prize more than me. I don’t want to brag, but no one else has solved wars.”
After ousting President Maduro, President Trump claimed that Machado was “not supported or respected in the country” as a leader.
When Machado received the award last October, he tried to appease the president by dedicating a portion of it to him. In recent weeks, she has hinted that she would offer her prize to President Trump, even though the Norwegian Nobel Institute says it is not transferable. President Trump said it would be an honor for her to receive the award, but did not directly answer whether it might cause her to reconsider her role in Venezuela.
Thursday’s lunch may be Machado’s biggest chance to sway the president. Even if you are at a disadvantage now, a single encounter can change a lot. Take the disastrous White House meeting between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and President Trump last February. The talks left Ukraine scrambling to regain U.S. support and European allies stepping in as mediators.
Or take New York City’s newly installed mayor, Zoran Mamdani. Despite receiving harsh criticism from President Trump during his mayoral campaign, he seemed to charm the president during their first meeting at the White House.
Meanwhile, President Trump has also expressed a desire to meet with Rodriguez “at some point,” and Rodriguez now faces a difficult balance.
On the one hand, President Rodríguez ostensibly condemned the US operation, calling Maduro’s capture “barbaric” and a blatant violation of Venezuela’s sovereignty.
But under pressure from the United States to comply, Mr. Rodriguez has since struck a more conciliatory tone, offering an “agenda of cooperation” with the United States. Her government began releasing high-profile prisoners, including several Americans, as part of the peace process.
Mr. Rodriguez has had a complicated relationship with the United States over the years. As her rival Machado has pointed out, the acting president is facing U.S. sanctions for human rights violations, which she has repeatedly denied.
At the same time, she has worked for years to strengthen bilateral ties, especially with Venezuela, which has the world’s largest oil reserves.
In 2017, when she was foreign minister, Venezuela donated $500,000 to President Trump’s inaugural committee through its oil subsidiary. Since becoming acting president, she has offered to ship millions of barrels of oil to the United States and approved a visit by U.S. Chargé d’Affaires John McNamara to explore the possibility of reopening the U.S. embassy in Caracas, which was closed in 2019.
So far, her efforts to persuade the White House appear to be working. Mr. Trump and other key administration officials have indicated they view Mr. Rodriguez as a stable and viable option for the United States to work with and are open to valuable business opportunities, with the first U.S. sale of Venezuelan oil reported on Wednesday.
But she’s playing a “very difficult double game” with no guarantee of coming out on top, said Will Freeman, a Latin American studies fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations.
“We’ve got to convince the Trump administration that we’re working together to get there,” Rodriguez told CNN last week. “But she also has to convince Maduro’s hardliners, including the military, that she is not going to sell them out,” he added.
“We’re going to see how long she can walk that tightrope.”
