Machado presents Trump her Nobel Prize as uncertainty surrounds Venezuela's leadership

Geoff Bennett:

Today, Nobel peace laureate Maria Corina Machado met with President Trump and said she presented him her Nobel Peace Prize. Their lunch came after the president spoke yesterday to Venezuela's acting president, a woman who in the past disparaged Machado and is now empowered by the Trump administration to lead that country.

Nick Schifrin examines the country's current and would-be leadership.

Nick Schifrin:

In Washington today, the woman who won a Nobel Peace Prize for advocating democracy brought her prize to the man she says can deliver democracy.

Maria Corina Machado, Venezuela Opposition Leader:

I presented the president of the United States the medal of the Peace -- Nobel Peace Prize as a recognition for his unique commitment with our freedom

Question, Ms. Machado, how did your meeting go with the president?

Nick Schifrin:

Machado met with bipartisan senators who call her Venezuela's rightful leader. Whether she one day becomes that, she said today was up to Trump.

Maria Corina Machado (through interpreter):

Know that we count on President Trump for the freedom of Venezuela.

Nick Schifrin:

It was two years ago that Machado was banned from running for president, but she handpicked a candidate, Edmundo Gonzalez, who defeated then-President Nicolas Maduro by 2-1, according to the opposition's tally.

And on his third day as secretary of state, Marco Rubio called Gonzalez Venezuela's -- quote -- "rightful president" and reaffirmed the United States' support for the restoration of democracy in Venezuela.

But then the U.S. captured Maduro and, faced with a decapitated Venezuelan regime, Machado was sidelined.

President Donald Trump:

She doesn't have the support within or the respect within the country. She's a very nice woman, but she doesn't have the respect.

Nick Schifrin:

So, instead, the Trump administration empowered now interim president, Delcy Rodriguez.

President Donald Trump:

We just had a great conversation today, and she's a terrific person. I mean, she's somebody that we have worked with very well.

Nick Schifrin:

But Rodriguez was Maduro's handpicked deputy. Most recently, she oversaw the oil industry, but activists accuse her of helping hand over the country's security and economy to American adversaries Cuba and Iran.

And she was, for decades, a follower of the country's nationalist Chavismo leadership.

Delcy Rodriguez, Acting President of Venezuela (through interpreter): And here we are, the peoples, dozens and hundreds who came together here, precisely to tell the North that there is no way they can subdue us or subject us to their imperial orders.

Nick Schifrin:

Recently, she's proved open to working with the country she used to call the imperialists, releasing 70 political prisoners, including five Americans, and opening up the world's largest oil reserves to American investment.

But activists say she cannot deliver the rule of law that U.S. investment requires, and they say she cannot be trusted.

For the "PBS News Hour," I'm Nick Schifrin.

Geoff Bennett:

And we turn now to Laura Dib, director of the Venezuela Program at the Washington Office on Latin America.

Thank you for being here. We appreciate it.

Laura Dib, Venezuela Program Director, Washington Office on Latin America: Thank you so much for your invitation.

Geoff Bennett:

Maria Corina Machado is wrapping up day one of a five-day visit to Washington. How should we assess her visit and her meeting with President Trump and other U.S. policymakers, what it says about her standing?

Laura Dib:

After she had been dismissed by President Trump on January 3, after his remarks, right after the strike, he said that she didn't have the support of Venezuelans.

So there was a lot of concern among members of Venezuelan civil society that Venezuelans were being left out of the decision-making process around the future of Venezuela, and that their agency was being undermined. So I think that the fact that President Trump met with Maria Corina Machado, but also a group of bipartisan senators, is a good sign that they're listening to members of the Venezuelan opposition.

Geoff Bennett:

How much influence does she have in Venezuela right now?

Laura Dib:

It's hard to have influence when you're dealing with an authoritarian government. Between Chavez and Maduro, they ruled for 26 years. So I would understand also the concern from the administration that she -- even though she has popular support, she has limited capacity to whole power in this context.

Geoff Bennett:

And you have noted that Edmundo Gonzalez won roughly 67 percent of the vote with her backing. If that level of support exists within Venezuela, what is the missing piece that prevents real political change?

Laura Dib:

Authoritarianism.

I mean, Venezuelans have committed themselves to fighting for democracy through different means, I mean, five different rounds of negotiations, peaceful demonstrations, participated in elections despite the lack of free and fair election conditions. The Carter Center, the U.N. panel of experts have said this.

Maria Corina Machado was banned from running for office, just as other members of the opposition. So it was impossible for the opposition and for civil society to mobilize and actually exercise power when Maduro,after that election, decided to hang on to power through repression.

And one thing I would notice is, after Maduro was taken, there has been silence in the streets. And a lot of people are wondering, well, if he was so unpopular, why are the streets empty? And the answer to that question is the brutal repression that came afterwards; 2,000 people were detained. Just today, around 1,000 remained detained. People were killed in the streets.

So people are very much afraid of going out and speaking out their minds.

Geoff Bennett:

So, on that point, how should we understand the interim president, Delcy Rodriguez, within the current power structure in Venezuela?

Laura Dib:

Delcy Rodriguez has been a member of the government since the beginning of Chavez. I mean, she has held different positions. She was a minister of oil. That's important because she has a relationship with the private sector that other members within the Chavismo government didn't have.

And she was the vice president under Maduro. She was also the minister of foreign affairs at some point. But given all of these conditions, one has to wonder whether she will actually be the one that opens some doors towards democratization. So far, that doesn't seem to be the case.

Geoff Bennett:

If there is no political transition and if repression continues, does Venezuela realistically become a place where major oil companies, to include U.S. firms, can invest?

Laura Dib:

The meeting that President Trump held with some of these oil companies was very telling, because, for example, ExxonMobil, who is owed billions of dollars, said that Venezuela was uninvestable because there needed to be a change.

And I think that's a clear message also that oil companies should send. It is impossible to invest without a certain rule of law and legal certainty. You can't invest in a country where there are no democratic openings.

The reality is that -- and I think that's something that not only the U.S., but other countries, democratic countries, should be sending the message that, in order for the complex humanitarian emergency in Venezuela to be reverted, there needs to be some sort of democratic opening. This cannot just be a change in actors without a real democratic transition.

Geoff Bennett:

Is there a realistic pathway where economic engagement could actually create pressure for democratic openings in Venezuela?

Laura Dib:

I believe that should be the case. And I think that, sadly, we have seen how the administration is more driven by economic interests than it is about the concern for human rights and for democracy.

The national security strategy that the administration published doesn't mention the word human rights, not even once. So this is a context in which realistically, and from a pragmatic standpoint, then these economic actors have the potential to actually create those openings.

But I also have the responsibility to say that all the literature, all the research on transitional justice explains how no process of democratic transition can be sustainable without the participation of civil society. And this is something that is definitely lacking right now.

Geoff Bennett:

Laura Dib, thanks again for your time this evening. We appreciate it.

Laura Dib:

Thank you. Thank you so much.