The United States has a crucial opportunity to demonstrate its unwavering support for a democratic transition in Venezuela on Thursday, when President Donald Trump meets with Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado.
Machado, who won the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize, has been the cornerstone of the democratic opposition in Venezuela. Favored to win the 2024 presidential election and then barred from running, she supported Edmundo González, who won overwhelmingly.
Now, the man who stole the election – Nicolás Maduro – sits in an American detention center, awaiting judgment for drug trafficking charges while his former Vice President Delcy Rodríguez scrambles to consolidate power while remaining resolutely politically aligned with the political ideology of Maduro and his predecessor, Hugo Chávez.
Venezuela is at a pivotal moment, not only for its people, but for U.S. interests in the hemisphere and around the globe. The Trump-Machado meeting is critical to determining the country’s future direction. Which path Venezuela takes will have a major impact on the United States, its security, the flow of drugs and people, and the direction of the Western Hemisphere, which the Trump Administration has named as a strategic priority.
Venezuela could move toward democracy, becoming secure, economically stable, and a responsible U.S. partner. Or it could remain an autocratically governed narco-state that represses its people and sows regional instability. Or, worse, it could devolve into chaos, triggering violence, massive refugee outflows, lawlessness, and continued drug trafficking.
The United States must support a stable, democratic, economically viable Venezuela. The people of Venezuela deserve a democratic government that will protect their rights and allow them to flourish economically and in peace. After removing Maduro, the administration hela make a smooth, democratic transition.
The United States should commit to supporting a full, unequivocal transition to democracy under the leadership of Machado, even if the immediate timeline for transition or elections remains undetermined. The United States should call for the immediate release of political prisoners, many of whom struggled alongside of Machado and are now languishing in deplorable conditions. That will show a major turn in the direction of the country.
Politically aligned with Cuba and Nicaragua, Caracas has been the complicit in the instability caused by illiberal governments for nearly a quarter century, governing by repression and serving China and Russia as a loyal ally. The United States and the entire region need a country that will not be a scourge to its neighbors or allow Beijing and Moscow to have a foothold and oil pump in the hemisphere.
American policy toward Venezuela will require more than a short-term, transactional approach based on immediate interests. That would ultimately fall flat and undermine the long-term American interests and needs of the Venezuelan people.
Our engagement will require a longer-term collaboration and, driven by partnership with Venezuelan democratic leadership, and based on support for rule of law which is central to political and economic stability. Without a democratic government committed to governing justly and according to law, it won’t be possible to advance American interests like security, counternarcotics, oil extraction, and protection of human rights.
But the United States should be clear that while we have economic and security interests, we recognize the importance of Venezuelan democracy for the sake of the Venezuelan people and American partnership and interests.
Tomorrow’s meeting will have a huge impact on the future of Venezuela but also signal what type of global leader the United States will be.
