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Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado says January 3 will be remembered as a “day when justice defeated tyranny” following the US capture of dictator Nicolás Maduro.
The Trump administration announced Saturday that U.S. forces had captured the dictator and his wife Cilia Flores after successful “large-scale” military attacks against the venezuelan government. The dictator and his wife are now detained in New York while they wait to face narcoterrorism charges against them.
“January 3 will go down in history as the day justice defeated tyranny,” Machado told “Hannity” on Monday. “It is a milestone, and not only is it enormous for the Venezuelan people and our future, I think it is a great step for humanity, freedom and human dignity.”
MARÍA CORINA MACHADO EMERGES AS THE TOP POTENTIAL SUCCESSOR AFTER THE FALL OF MÁDURO
Nobel Peace Prize winner María Corina Machado greets at the Grand Hotel in Oslo, Norway, early Thursday, December 11, 2025. (Lise Åserud/NTB Scanpix via AP)
Machado told Fox News that the victory is “historic” and a “big step” toward a democratic transition for the country.
“A free Venezuela It means, first, a security ally, dismantling the criminal center of the Americas and turning it into a security shield, the strongest ally to dismantle all these criminal structures that have done so much damage and harm to our people and the American people as well,” he said. “Second, we will turn Venezuela into the energy center of the Americas. We will bring the rule of law. We will open markets. We will give security to foreign investment. Third, we will bring home millions of Venezuelans who have been forced to flee their country, to build a strong nation, a prosperous nation and an open society. we will do it [leave] behind all the destruction that this socialist regime, criminal regime, has brought to our people and turn Venezuela into the main ally of the United States in Latin America.”
Machado's fight for a free Venezuela is not new. The political leader ran against Maduro and overwhelmingly won the primary election, but was later banned from running by the government. The substitute Edmundo González finally applied in his place.
Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado waves a national flag during a protest called by the opposition on the eve of the presidential inauguration, in Caracas on January 9, 2025. (JUAN BARRETO/AFP via Getty Images)
“It was a miracle,” he recalled. “Everyone told us that it was impossible to carry out independent elections in a primary process, and we were able to unite the country to carry out these elections organized by civil society with the participation of millions of people… Coward, he feared us. He feared me, Maduro. Then he thought that banning me would prevent us from winning, but exactly the opposite happened. Edmundo González Urrutia, put himself in my place, and we moved throughout the country and managed to unite a country and defeat Maduro by an overwhelming majority… under extreme conditions, conditions unfair.”
Machado's fight for freedom in Venezuela has been recognized with the Nobel Peace Prize, an award he dedicated to President Donald Trump at the time of his reception.
Nobel Peace Prize winner Maria Corina Machado addresses a press conference on December 11, 2025 at the Norwegian government representation facility in Oslo. (Photo by Odd ANDERSEN / AFP via Getty Images)
“I dedicated it to President Trump because at the time I thought he deserved it,” she explained. “A lot of people, most people, said it was impossible to achieve what he just did on Saturday, January 3. So if I think he deserved it in October, imagine now. I think he's shown the world what he means.”
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Machado expressed hope that the country's future will move forward following the actions of the Trump administration.
“I want to say today, on behalf of the Venezuelan people, how grateful we are for your brave vision, the actions, the historic actions that you have taken against this narcoterrorist regime to begin to dismantle this structure and bring Maduro to justice, which means that 30 million Venezuelans “We are now closer to freedom, but also that the United States of America is a safer country today.”
