Removing Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, who now awaits trial in the United States on drug trafficking and narcoterrorism charges, was pivotal toward the transition to democracy in Venezuela, but it’s not enough, according to human rights and democracy advocate Rodrigo Diamanti.
It makes sense that the Trump Administration is currently working with Delcy Rodríguez, Maduro’s former vice president, to keep the country stable as it shifts to a new era, he said, but “she still represents a dictatorship” and shouldn’t be left in power for too long. Instead, the United States should help empower Edmundo González, who international observers say won the 2024 Venezuelan presidential election stolen by Maduro, and opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize laureate María Corina Machado.
“By the end of the year, González or María Corina Machado should be in power,” Diamanti said in an interview with the George W. Bush Institute. “I think it’s important that the United States honor what people voted for.”
Diamanti also called for free and fair elections to be organized for as soon as this year – or early next year at the latest. He said it would be beneficial for U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio to release a plan as soon as possible.
At the same time, he expressed enormous gratitude for what the Trump Administration did to topple Maduro and release his grip on power, something he said the Venezuelan opposition repeatedly tried to do. President Donald Trump ordered the military strike which seized Maduro from Caracas last month and brought him to the United States to face charges.
“Venezuela has been a dictatorship for more than 20 years, and more years of dictatorship were the only thing on the horizon,” he said. “We were going to be a dictatorship until President Trump did what he did. So what he did was a miracle. We’re seeing very impressive changes that wouldn’t have been possible more than a month ago.”
But he said that it’s critical that the transition now include free and fair elections, the release of all remaining political prisoners, an open door for the return of all Venezuelan exiles, and a liberation of the regime’s tight grip on the Venezuelan media.
“It’s so important that the United States present a timeline,” Diamanti said. “I think we deserve transparency and honesty in what is going to happen. The transition has to be clear for everyone.”
A democratic Venezuela will benefit not only Venezuelans but the United States, the region, and the world, he said. It would stop the Maduro regime’s support for the many anti-Western, anti-democracy criminals “who found Venezuela their hub,” and help stabilize the region.
Venezuela has the world’s largest proven oil reserves, with about 17% of the world total in 2023, according to the most recent data available from the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Despite that, it produced just 0.8% of total global crude oil in 2023 because international sanctions on Venezuela limited global investment, the country lacked the technical expertise to extract the oil, and the state oil company Petróleos de Venezuela suffered from budgetary constraints.
“The benefits of having a productive Venezuela with big reserves is it’s going to stabilize the region,” he said. “It will help liberate Cuba and Nicaragua. We’re going to have zero dictatorships on the continent, and that’s crucial. It’s never happened before, but it’s going to start with the liberation of Venezuela. It’s going to be a game changer for the region.”
And he sees a significant role in this future for María Corina Machado. A former Venezuelan National Assembly member, she was the opposition’s first choice to run for president in 2024 but was disqualified by the Maduro regime. She endorsed González to run instead after her first pick, Corina Yoris, wasn’t able to register.
He estimated that about 80% of the people of Venezuela support Machado’s election as the next president.
“Under the leadership of María Corina Machado, Venezuela will improve transparency, fight corruption, establish institutions,” he said. “That’s going to change the game. The United States will have Venezuela as their best ally on the continent, for sure.”
Machado’s incredible popularity in Venezuela grew from the 26 years she spent trying to get rid of the regime led by first Chávez and then Maduro.
“She’s a real hero, for sure,” Diamanti said. “A Ghandi or a Mandela.”
She won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2025 “for her tireless work promoting democratic rights for the people of Venezuela and for her struggle to achieve a just and peaceful transition from dictatorship to democracy,” according to the Norwegian Nobel Committee. She famously gave her medal to Trump in January for liberating Venezuela from Maduro.
“She has such strong values that she would never accept a situation in which the future of Venezuela will be compromised,” Diamati said. “When she couldn’t run for office, she stepped down and found another person. When she won the Nobel Peace Prize, she dedicated and gave the medal to President Trump. Because for her, there is nothing more important – the only thing that matters is the liberation of the country. That’s why we trust her.”
