Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado announced Thursday that unknown individuals attempted to break into her home in Caracas a day after she participated in an interview with Donald Trump Jr.
“At this moment unidentified men are trying to force their way into my home in Los Palos Grandes, Caracas,” Machado said through social media. “They are threatening to arrest the neighbors and the security guard.”
The incident occurred after Machado appeared on Trump’s Triggered podcast Wednesday. Machado – who leads Venezuela’s only mainstream center-right party, Vente Venezuela – has remained in hiding for months facing threats of arrest by the socialist regime in the wake of the fraudulent July 28 presidential election, which dictator Nicolás Maduro insists he “won.”
Machado was last publicly seen on January 9 when she participated in an opposition rally. On that day, Machado was briefly detained amid gunshots after departing the event and was allegedly forced to record a video asserting that she was “safe.” The video first began circulating on Venezuelan regime-affiliated social media accounts.
On Wednesday, Machado and Trump Jr., conversed on several Venezuelan-related topics such as the Maduro regime, the sham July 2024 presidential election, and President Donald Trump’s decision to revoke an oil sanctions waiver granted by the administration of former U.S. President Joe Biden to California-based Chevron that allowed it to resume operations in Venezuela and sell Venezuelan oil in U.S. markets.
The opposition leader stressed that Venezuela has been “kidnapped” by a gang connected to drug cartels and enemies of the United States. She accused dictator Nicolás Maduro of putting the content’s security at risk by allowing regimes such as Iran and China as well as terrorist organizations such as Hezbollah and Hamas to operate freely in Venezuela.
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Machado also accused Maduro of promoting Venezuela migration and using it as a “weapon” to destabilize neighboring countries, an attempt to “spread the chaos” beyond Venezuela’s borders.
“The Cartel of the Suns is also linked to the Tren de Aragua, but we all know that the head of Tren de Aragua is Maduro,” Machado said. “The regime has created, promoted and financed Tren de Aragua.”
President Trump announced the rescission of the Chevron Venezuelan oil license as Trump Jr.’s interview with Machado was underway. The opposition leader expressed her support of the decision, describing it as a “huge step.”
“This is a huge step and this sends a clear message that Maduro is in huge trouble and President Trump is with the Venezuelan people, with security, freedom, prosperity, and peace for the whole region,” Machado said, pointing out that she found out about it in the middle of the interview.
Donald Trump Jr. expressed his support to Machado on Thursday shortly after she denounced the attempted break-in of her apartment through social media.
“Just a day after our interview, Maduro’s thugs target María Corina Machado, under my father’s leadership America isn’t going to put up with these BS intimidation tactics any longer,” Trump Jr. wrote.
Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) and Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar (R-FL) issued similar messages of support on their respective social media accounts.
“Maduro and his thugs are so scared of losing power that they’re resorting to raiding María Corina Machado’s home and threatening her neighbors,” Scott wrote. “This cruel behavior is a desperate attempt to distract from what the world already knows — he’s an illegitimate dictator whose days in power are numbered.”
“Only 24 hours have passed since the announcement to cancel Chevron’s license in Venezuela & dictator Maduro has already sent his thugs to the house of María Corina Machado,” Salazar said. “Her life is in danger like never before. Maduro is playing with fire and if you play with fire…”
Venezuelan Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello dismissed the break-in allegations as “fake news” and as a “self-incrimination” hours later, accusing Machado of “always lying to her followers and the public.”
“From the creators of the shooting on January 23 and the attempted self-kidnapping on January 9, now the show of the self-seizure is presented to the public, they have no shame, always lying. We Will Overcome!” Cabello wrote on his Instagram account.
VTV, the main propaganda outlet, echoed Cabello’s statements and described Machado as “La Sayo” in reference to “La Sayona,” the name of a centuries-old Venezuelan urban legend. For years, Nicolás Maduro, and several members of his socialist regime have used the name of La Sayona to refer to Machado in a derogatory manner.
On Friday morning, Cabello, who is actively wanted by U.S. authorities on multiple narco-terrorism charges, published a video on Instagram ridiculing Machado’s interview with Trump Jr. The video shows Cabello reading a report from a “cooperating patriot” during his weekly state-media show Con el Mazo Dando (“Hitting with the Mallet”) claiming that a “lobbyist” allegedly convinced Trump Jr. to interview Machado.
“Here comes a bombshell. La Sayo managed to get a little attention in Washington in exchange for giving [former Venezuelan interim President Juan] Guaidó and [exiled “opposition” figurehead] Leopoldo López a hard time,” Cabello said. “Cousin, this looks like the cartel of snitches. A lobbyist managed to convince Trump’s son to give La Sayo a chance. The problem will be when they realize that María Corina is another lie and is just as corrupt as Guaidó and the ‘Wireless Prince.’ [López].”
Christian K. Caruzo is a Venezuelan writer and documents life under socialism. You can follow him on Twitter here.
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