The Woman Who BEAT Maduro: Venezuela’s Next Leader? Nobel Peace Prize Winner Maria Corina Machado

Summary

David Friedberg interviews Maria Corina Machado, the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize winner and Venezuelan opposition leader, who is currently in hiding after leading a movement that claims to have won the 2024 presidential election against Nicolas Maduro. Machado describes how Venezuela transformed from one of the richest countries in the Americas to one of the poorest under 26 years of socialist rule under Chavez and Maduro, with over 9 million people (30% of the population) fleeing the country, 86% living in poverty, and pensions under $1 per month.

The interview traces Machado’s journey from a private sector professional who never intended to enter politics to founding the civil organization Sumate in 2002, winning a National Assembly seat with the highest votes in Venezuelan history in 2010, and ultimately winning the 2023 presidential primary with 92% of the vote. After being banned from running, she appointed Edmundo Gonzalez as her surrogate candidate. Their movement organized over 1 million volunteers, smuggled Starlink antennas into the country, and built a parallel vote-counting system that proved their electoral victory within 24 hours, setting a new standard for electoral integrity.

Machado details the regime’s brutal tactics including imprisoning 2,500 people within 24 hours of the election, targeting activists’ families, and committing what the UN has labeled crimes against humanity. She explains how Venezuela has become a safe haven for criminal networks, terrorist groups like Hezbollah and Hamas, and a strategic foothold for Russia, Iran, and China just three hours from Miami. Despite the darkness, she remains optimistic about a democratic transition and envisions Venezuela becoming the energy, technology, and democracy hub of the Americas.

Highlights

”Children eating from garbage in the country with the largest oil reserves”

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“Imagine this David, the country that has the largest oil reserves in the world. I’ve been walking around those areas where that oil is actually beneath the ground and you see children eating from garbage.” — Maria Corina Machado, 8:18

”Pensions in Venezuela are less than $1 a month”

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“86% of our population nowadays lives in poverty. The pensions in Venezuela are less than $1 a month. David, $1 a month.” — Maria Corina Machado, 13:20

”She broke my nose in five pieces on live TV”

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“I turn around and there was this member of the parliament of the Chavista regime that hit me in the face and she broke my nose in five pieces… I was thrown to the floor. I was kicked by this and Cabello was watching everything. He was the president of the National Assembly.” — Maria Corina Machado, 22:18

”We smuggled Starlink antennas into the country”

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“We smuggled Starlink antennas into the country, generators, laptops, cell phones, and without the regime noticing it, we installed these 130 operational places. And in less than 24 hours we were able to prove our victory with the original images of the tally sheets.” — Maria Corina Machado, 46:51

”Those who offer free what you must earn end up charging you with your freedom”

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“Those who offer to give you for free what you need to get on your own with hard work, at the end end up charging you with the most valuable asset you could have, which is your freedom, your capacity to decide and to make your own decisions.” — Maria Corina Machado, 56:13

”2,500 people imprisoned in 24 hours”

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“When we won the election last year in July 28, thousands of people went to the streets while we were counting the votes. And in a matter of 24 hours 2,500 people were in prison including young people, children, women that were even sexually assaulted.” — Maria Corina Machado, 31:24

Key Points

• Nobel Peace Prize Winner (0:00) - Maria Corina Machado won the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize two weeks before this interview for her leadership of Venezuela’s democracy movement
• Venezuela’s Oil Wealth (1:26) - Venezuela has 300 billion barrels of proven oil reserves, the largest in the world, more than Saudi Arabia (266B) and the US (48B)
• 26 Years of Tyranny (2:08) - The Chavez/Maduro regime transformed Venezuela from one of the freest and richest countries in the Americas to one of the poorest
• Taking Democracy for Granted (3:59) - Machado’s generation thought they had inherited democracy forever until Chavez arrived in 1999
• Chavez’s Populist Rise (6:09) - Chavez came to power during economic crisis with oil at $8/barrel, promising equality and revenge against the wealthy
• Oil Price Windfall (11:31) - Oil went from $8-10/barrel when Chavez arrived to $150/barrel, providing massive resources to buy loyalty and influence globally
• $2 Trillion Stolen (12:49) - Estimates suggest over $2 trillion was stolen from Venezuela over 26 years through corruption and obscene fortunes for a few individuals
• Pensions Under $1/Month (13:20) - Today 86% of Venezuelans live in poverty with pensions less than $1 per month while children eat from garbage
• Criminal Networks (13:55) - The regime expanded into drug trafficking, gold smuggling, arms smuggling, and human trafficking, converging every criminal network into Venezuela
• Terrorist Safe Haven (14:44) - Venezuela operates as a satellite of Russia and Iran just 3 hours from Miami, with Hezbollah and Hamas receiving thousands of Venezuelan passports
• Sumate Founded (15:33) - Machado co-founded Sumate in 2002 to gather petitions for a recall referendum after recognizing Chavez was promoting division
• Historic Congressional Victory (19:48) - In 2010, with no money, organization, or media support, Machado won the National Assembly seat with the highest number of votes in Venezuelan history
• Internet as Liberator (20:38) - Machado credits the internet for her 2010 victory when no media outlet would interview her, and for the democracy movement reaching the threshold of freedom
• Physical Attack in Congress (22:18) - In 2013, a regime member broke Machado’s nose in five pieces on live TV in the National Assembly after she declared Maduro was not the legitimate president
• Maduro Chosen by Cuba (24:39) - The Cubans chose Maduro as Chavez’s successor because of his absolute loyalty to the communist regime and willingness to use violence
• China’s $60 Billion Debt (27:11) - Venezuela became China’s main debtor with over $60 billion in debts for projects never built; China stopped funding 7 years ago due to corruption
• 9 Million Fled (29:20) - Roughly 30% of Venezuela’s population (9 million people) have fled, devastating families with grandparents who’ve never met grandchildren
• Cuban Intelligence Methods (31:24) - The regime uses Cuban intelligence mechanisms to infiltrate, detain, harm, kill, and disappear anyone who protests
• 2,500 Imprisoned in 24 Hours (31:55) - After the July 2024 election, 2,500 people were imprisoned within 24 hours including children and women who were sexually assaulted
• State Terrorism Designation (33:13) - The Inter-American Commission of Human Rights labeled the regime’s actions as state terrorism; UN called them crimes against humanity
• 92% Primary Victory (42:23) - Machado won the October 2023 primary with 92% of votes after over 3 million showed up to vote despite the risks
• 1 Million Volunteers (45:02) - The movement recruited over 1 million volunteers to monitor the election, trained 300,000 online and 5,000 in-person sessions
• Zero Publicity Budget (45:25) - The campaign had no money for flyers, posters, or ads; the regime would close hotels they stayed in and punish restaurants they visited
• Smuggled Starlink Antennas (47:12) - The movement secretly smuggled Starlink antennas, generators, laptops, and cell phones to set up 130 operational centers
• New Electoral Integrity Standard (47:50) - They published original tally sheets on a digitized webpage within 24 hours, audited by 20+ independent technicians, proving their victory
• Bipartisan US Support (51:29) - Venezuela has received bipartisan support in US Congress for humanitarian and national security reasons
• 100-Hour Transition Plan (52:46) - The opposition is prepared with plans for the first 100 hours and 100 days to take control of institutions
• Future Energy & Tech Hub (53:29) - Vision to transform Venezuela from the criminal hub of the Americas into the energy, technology, and democracy hub
• Warning to American Youth (55:34) - Those who offer free what you must earn through hard work end up charging you with your most valuable asset: your freedom

Mentions

Companies

• Seven Sisters (1:49) - Group of seven oil companies that initially invested in Venezuela’s oil boom
• Google (20:05) - Friedberg mentions working there and their vision of internet democratizing information
• Starlink (47:12) - Technology smuggled into Venezuela to enable vote monitoring in areas without internet

Products & Technologies

• Electronic voting machines (43:58) - Venezuela described as birthplace of election fraud using electronic machines
• Mobile apps (44:47) - Apps developed for cell phones to monitor every polling station
• Digitized web platform (46:47) - Robust system to publish scanned original tally sheets for the world to see
• AI and data centers (54:17) - Mentioned as future investment opportunities in a free Venezuela

People

• Hugo Chavez (4:02) - Former Venezuelan president who came to power in 1999 with populist promises
• Nicolas Maduro (0:30) - Current Venezuelan dictator who succeeded Chavez, trained in Cuba
• Edmundo Gonzalez (0:30) - 74-year-old diplomat appointed as surrogate candidate after Machado was banned
• Fidel Castro (6:23) - Cuban leader Chavez aligned with to seize Venezuela’s resources
• Donald Trump (50:05) - US President praised for decisive action cutting criminal money inflows to the regime
• Diosdado Cabello (22:51) - President of National Assembly who watched as Machado was attacked
• Zohran Mamdani (55:01) - New York mayoral candidate mentioned as example of rising socialist interest in US

Organizations

• Sumate (15:41) - Civil organization Machado co-founded in 2002 meaning “join up” in Spanish
• Organization of American States (OAS) (21:36) - Where Machado first accused Maduro of human rights violations internationally
• National Electoral Council (0:42) - Venezuelan government body that declared Maduro winner with 51%
• FARC (13:32) - Colombian guerrilla group aligned with Venezuelan regime
• Hezbollah (15:04) - Terrorist group given Venezuelan passports to travel freely
• Hamas (15:04) - Terrorist group given Venezuelan passports
• Yale University (18:28) - Where Machado took a leadership fellowship before running for Congress
• UN Fact-Finding Mission (33:23) - Concluded regime committed crimes against humanity
• Inter-American Commission of Human Rights (33:13) - Labeled regime’s actions as state terrorism

Countries

• Cuba (6:23) - Received 300,000 barrels of oil daily at 50% discount; Cuban intelligence controls Venezuela
• Russia (14:50) - Venezuela became one of Russia’s main weapons buyers
• Iran (14:50) - Uses Venezuelan financial system to bypass sanctions
• China (26:54) - $60 billion debtor relationship; installed intelligence satellites in Venezuela

Surprising Quotes

“Imagine this David, the country that has the largest oil reserves in the world. I’ve been walking around those areas where that oil is actually beneath the ground and you see children eating from garbage.” — 8:18

“The pensions in Venezuela are less than $1 a month. David, $1 a month.” — 13:20

“I turn around and there was this member of the parliament of the Chavista regime that hit me in the face and she broke my nose in five pieces… I was thrown to the floor. I was kicked by this and Cabello was watching everything.” — 22:32

“We smuggled Starlink antennas into the country, generators, laptops, cell phones, and without the regime noticing it, we installed these 130 operational places.” — 47:12

“Those who offer to give you for free what you need to get on your own with hard work, at the end end up charging you with the most valuable asset you could have, which is your freedom.” — 56:13

Transcript

0:00 Maria Corina Machado, welcome to the All-In interview and thank you for being here with me today and congratulations on winning the Nobel Peace Prize two weeks ago. Thank you very much, David. It’s my pleasure.

0:17 Today, you are in hiding. In October of 2023, you won the presidential primary election in Venezuela. Last March, you were disqualified from running in the general election. You appointed ultimately a surrogate Edmundo Gonzalez. After the vote for the general election for the presidency, your party presented evidence that claimed that you had won 69% of the votes while Maduro through the National Electoral Council declared that he was the winner with 51% of the votes.

0:49 This is the recap of a very long story of the Maduro regime and prior to that the Chavez regime and its effect on the people of Venezuela which you have tried to bring to light on the global stage. I was hoping to frame up the story for our audience who may not know the history of Venezuela very well by talking a little bit about the background of the country and how your childhood and your youth brought you to the stage that you’re on today.

1:26 Just to provide a little bit of background, the discovery of oil in Venezuela in 1914 began an economic boom that really kicked off in 1922. Today, Venezuela has proven oil reserves of 300 billion barrels, the number one proven oil reserve in the world. Saudi Arabia is number two at 266 billion and the US is at 48 billion. Over the decades that followed the discovery of oil in Venezuela, there was initially an improvement in the economy through the investment by the seven sisters which are a group of seven oil companies and ultimately there was a transition in the country to nationalize oil production and that led to I think the story that brings us here today.

2:03 So Maria Corina again thank you for being here. Maybe you could tell us a little bit about your youth.

2:08 Well, first of all, I have to thank you because this is a unique decisive moment in Venezuela. We’ve been under this tyranny that has turned into a real criminal structure for 26 years that have turned, you know, what used to be one of the freest and richest countries in the Americas into one of the poorest and with a third of our population forced to flee. So imagine what a tragedy it shows that you know you can have huge unique natural endowments but that’s not wealth - you need talent, you need institutions, and you need freedom in order to turn that into the well-being of your people.

2:54 I was born in an incredible family. I thank the Lord because we have a huge family like Latin American families like to be together hanging around all the time. My father was an incredible industrial entrepreneur. He is perhaps the smartest and most generous and honest individuals I’ve met in my life. And he taught us the responsibility that comes with your family values and the opportunity life gives you. And that’s why I only imagined my life in Venezuela and in freedom and we grew with that sense of responsibility.

3:39 But to be honest, I’m part of a generation that, you know, looked at politics with rejection or even contempt. I said I would do anything in my life but politics. And we thought that we had inherited democracy forever. We took it for granted and when Chavez arrived our lives were turned over and we realized that we need to exercise citizenship if we wanted to live with freedom and that’s how it all started. I never thought I would be sitting here with you talking about politics or democracy.

4:22 I never thought I would be sitting on a podcast, but you know, life takes us down strange paths. What were the conditions in the country when Chavez came to power? What sort of life were you living? What were you seeing in the country that enabled Chavez to come to power? And what did he promise the people?

4:43 Look, we had a period of democracy that brought Venezuela huge opportunities, you know, widespread education and health. Unfortunately, we stopped short of a real free economy. But the state control not only of institutions but as you mentioned when the oil companies were owned, turned into the government, statized, and terrible incentives started being created and more and more people felt excluded from that wealth that the society Venezuelan society was getting or the country was getting because it was all in hands of the state. So we’ve never known anything but the state control economy.

5:46 When Chavez arrived, we had gone through a political crisis and there were growing tensions and claims of corruption in the political system, the party system. And also the price of oil had declined. It was around $8 a barrel. So he came with a populist narrative offering everyone to be equal and to revenge against all those that were guilty of poverty in the country. And he aligned with actors such as Fidel Castro in Cuba and other international interests to grab those huge resources Venezuela has. And of course in a super strategic geographic position. So that’s how he got there and that populist system turned into a dictatorship and then into criminal structure.

6:46 And this was 1999 that he came to power. Yes, that was in 1999. And at the time I think when he took office oil was at around $14 per barrel and a few years later oil spiked up to $100 or even higher.

7:01 Yeah. Just to contextualize all of this, prior to his coming to power, the oil companies had been nationalized. So to your point, the government was really the economy and he promised this sort of equality and redistribution of value for all of the people of Venezuela. Is that what he promised? And the economy was really depressed because of the oil price being down.

7:27 Yeah, and that he would take resources from the rich, the companies, and he would distribute in poor quarters and in the most vulnerable parts of society. And at the end, we learned the hard way that effectively this kind of socialist approach does get everyone equal in absolute misery because there’s nothing for free in life. I mean you give away your choices, your decisions. It’s supposedly to receive what actually what you are getting is into a slave situation in which the state decides for you and only if you behave accordingly you will get what they had offered. So that’s what we’re seeing right now.

8:18 Imagine this David the country that has the largest oil reserves in the world. I’ve been walking around those areas where that oil is actually beneath the ground and you see children eating from garbage.

8:32 It’s unbelievable. And I think to your point, and I was going to bring this up later, but there’s such a powerful lesson to be learned for the West, for America, for Europe. Socialism is slavery. And I think the story that you bring to the world is one of slavery driven by this kind of socialist tyranny. There is no socialism without tyranny.

8:57 But I just want to walk through that a little bit because as Chavez came to power, oil went up to $100 a barrel. Suddenly Venezuela’s oil reserves made the country very wealthy. And he then engaged in a series of what some people have described to me as petro diplomacy where he gave away 300,000 barrels of oil per day to the Cubans at a 50% price discount in order to make the Cubans a surrogate in order to make other island nations in the Caribbean in the African island states surrogates.

9:32 And that’s how Venezuela expressed their political influence around the world was through the power of the oil reserves but in such a way that it excluded the people from participation. It seemed to be very centralized to the government. Maybe you could share a little bit about how folks in the government in the military under Chavez lived these incredible lives with wealth and luxury while the people were impoverished. Any anecdotes you could share on that?

10:02 Yeah, sure. Look, this is a strategy that’s been tried in Venezuela and elsewhere. You get into power through elections and then from within you start undermining every single democratic institution. You go against the media, you control the media. And you can see this pattern in Venezuela about how Chavez started pressing or buying space and publicity and then buying the whole media outlets and through censorship and changing the laws in order for it to be very very risky to speak out. And then it went also with the private sector in every single area of production and of course it took the military as well.

10:48 I mean all those that were the most competent individuals were put aside and only those that were absolutely loyal to the regime were advanced. So you destroy meritocracy and anybody realizes that if you want to be part of the system, if you want to work for the state or the academy or in the military, it has nothing to do with your competence or knowledge or talent, but you have to be absolutely loyal and lower your head to the regime.

11:25 And this progressively - imagine all the resources that were coming in because you said something very important that some people do not realize. I mean the barrel of oil was around 10 or eight when Chavez arrived. It went up to $150 a barrel. Imagine the amount of resources. It was all the money in the world that they used effectively to buy loyalty and to lobby around the world and to support ideological groups all over the western hemisphere and elsewhere.

12:00 So these groups get in contact with each other. They exchange technology, they exchange information, they support each other in international forums. And that’s why they get so powerful in their different areas and countries. On the other hand, what we had seen is that democracies and democratic movements in our side of the world are very isolated. We don’t help each other. We don’t support each other as we should. I think this is one of the great lessons that we’ve learned in these 20 years.

12:45 Regarding the amount of resources, look, there are estimates that how Venezuela was robbed is over $2 trillion. Imagine what we’re talking about in this 26 years. And this was all either went for corruption as I said or for this kind of obscene fortunes this very few individuals have while 86% of our population nowadays lives in poverty. The pensions in Venezuela are less than $1 a month. David, $1 a month.

13:24 Yeah. And so under Chavez, there was also this embracing or tie-up with the drug trade, the FARC. What is the alignment? What was the reason that the Chavez regime and now the Maduro regime aligns with the drug cartels given the oil wealth, given the international diplomatic ties because of the oil trade? Why is there also a drug tie up and what is the motivation and the incentive and drive there?

13:55 Well, that drug business isn’t that new. Actually, it started before Chavez arrived and many individuals in the military had ties to them. But they realized it could be even much more - the margins are even larger than in oil and the greed in these individuals in this criminal structure is unlimited. It’s infinite. So they not only went into drug trafficking, they went into gold smuggling, arms smuggling, even human trafficking. I mean every single criminal network in the world has converged into Venezuela that has been turned into a safe haven for the enemies of the West and the enemies of the United States.

14:43 Imagine, I mean Caracas is three hours away from Miami. So having a satellite of Russia, of Iran operating in the heart of the Americas, it’s something that these regimes around the world had always dreamed of. Even terrorist groups such as Hezbollah, Hamas to which Chavez and Maduro had given thousands of Venezuelan identities and passports to travel around freely around the world.

15:17 So under Chavez, the GDP declined 70%. There was mass starvation, highest crime rates in the world, 90% poverty rate. Much of the stories and anecdotes that you’ve shared have been reported publicly by international organizations. You are 32 years old when Chavez comes to power. 3 years later, you start a civil organization called Sumate. What were you doing when Chavez came to power professionally and what motivated you to get involved in the civic engagement that carried you forward to today?

15:53 Well, I had been working in the private auto parts and steel industry following my father’s steps and also I was involved in an NGO that took over a children shelter for abandoned and abused children. And as I say I’d never thought I would get involved into politics but once this individual arrives and it’s evident for us that he was promoting the division of our country to create tensions to divide even families even my own family. The degree of hatred of violence in his speech, the way he wanted to create tensions among religions, races.

16:44 We realized that was going to turn hard for our country and a group of friends, engineers, decided that we would work to gather petitions for a recall referendum. We thought this was going to be like a super easy task to get 6 million petitions in a few weeks and we learned the hard way. It would require a totally new kind of citizen organization. And that’s how Sumate, which means “join up,” was founded. Finally we managed to gather the petitions in just one day. Millions of people came out and signed these petitions. It’s a long story. Chavez eventually committed fraud in the referendum and stayed in power and got even more and more autocratic as the years passed by.

17:44 So were you doing Sumate full-time? Did that become your life’s work at that point? And then how did you make the decision to run for the National Assembly which was in 2010? Fast forward 9 years after founding Sumate.

17:57 Sumate was like an awakening for me and for many Venezuelans. We realized that we could not rely our citizenship in political parties and that you cannot be complaining about politics if you are not willing to do your part. And that’s why it came a day when I said look, I know how politics work. I don’t like it. So I cannot complain if I’m not willing to take my own steps. So I took this fellowship to a program in leadership at Yale University and it was like seeing my life from above and I made that huge decision that I was going to go for it. I was going to run for Congress.

18:47 I had no political party. I had no experience. Everything was against me. Everybody told me, “You are crazy. You’re never gonna win. You are never gonna get support. Nobody’s going to support someone whose family has resources, who’s a woman. You are divorced. You are not a socialist. I mean, I have every single condition to fail.”

19:14 And I decided, I felt it was my responsibility. I could not get afraid and I had to trust my own feeling and it was impressive. Volunteers started contacting me and in a matter of months with no money whatsoever, no organization, no media, nothing - I won the primaries and then the national assembly election. That was in 2010 and I won with the highest number of votes in Venezuelan Congress history.

20:05 Amazing. How much of a role did the internet play? I worked at Google a long time ago and we always had this conversation that the internet is going to create a democratization of information that you no longer had centralized control of information through media and in the case of Venezuela media that is effectively controlled by a government that wants to stay in power. Did the internet play a role in giving you the ability to reach people around the country in 2010 to be able to get elected?

20:38 Absolutely. And not only that, in 2010 I wouldn’t have won if it wasn’t for the internet. I mean no media outlet would dare to interview me and it was a way in which we could organize because we had no resources. But further ahead, let me tell you, I know how there are so many concerns about the use of technology by bad guys and by the regimes that are autocratic and Venezuela is a textbook case of how you get infiltrated, persecuted, manipulation and so on. But if it wasn’t for technology, we wouldn’t be here at the threshold of freedom. And this is something that we need to really highlight David.

21:26 So you are like all great revolutionary leaders speaking truth to power. You have a seat at the table now. You’re in the National Assembly. And then in March of 2014, you address the Organization of American States about Venezuela’s human rights. And then a few days later you were expelled from the assembly and then there was all this legal stuff that happened which we don’t need to get into. But can you just frame up what happened in that moment kind of what your narrative is on the transition where they said you can no longer be a representative here anymore?

21:58 Well, I had a previous experience just one year before because we went for a presidential election and we won against Maduro when Chavez died and they committed fraud and we weren’t able to prove it that we had won. And that was in April 2013 and I went back to the National Assembly. I stood up and I said, “Maduro is not the legitimate president. We won.”

22:29 And suddenly I hear someone calling my name. I turn around and there was this member of the parliament of the Chavista regime that hit me in the face and she broke my nose in five pieces and we were locked in Congress. I was thrown to the floor. I was kicked and Cabello was watching everything. He was the president of the National Assembly. So this was an evidence that violence had gotten out of control. Imagine if you can do that on TV. It was seen on TV throughout the country and the world while they were shouting us.

23:14 So next year we started peaceful protest and the regime ordered young people that were in the streets with plaques to be shot at. So I went to the OAS, Organization of American States, and it was the first time Maduro was accused of human rights violations internationally. As soon as I came back, they ejected me from the National Assembly and by force prohibited me from going back into my seat.

23:50 So it was a very hard moment but at the same time it was a great opportunity because I realized that I needed to reach out personally to our country and create a totally new organization that promoted our ideas and prepared for the next stage of the struggle.

24:13 And this was in 2014. Can you share about the Maduro transition? Maduro is on paper seemingly wouldn’t have been the natural successor to Chavez. He started out as a bus driver and then he was a union leader. It’s unclear from the outside what makes Maduro the selected successor to Chavez. What is it about him as a man, as a person, his character that made him the successor to the Chavez regime?

24:39 Well, Maduro was trained in Cuba. So, it was the Cubans who chose Maduro. It was a very easy option for them. Totally loyal to the communist regime and Maduro has nothing restricting him from exercising violence and force for his ideas. And he certainly doesn’t have Chavez’s charisma nor the degree of control in the other groups. So they were creating a group of individuals that control the system, the strategy, the structure that controls the military, the financial enablers, the criminal networks and the political sectors.

25:37 And that’s how he went over taking more and more control and turning Venezuela, as I mentioned before, into this safe haven of criminal activities. And he himself turned into the head of these structures. When we heard about the DEA, now about the Cartel of the Suns - I mean these are structures that we have denounced for years and we have tried the world to understand that this was not a conventional dictatorship anymore. This is a very complex structure that produces obscene amounts of resources not only for them but also for very dangerous allies that come from very far such as the ones I mentioned before and terrorist groups and so on.

26:24 They turned Venezuela into one of the Russians’ main buyers of army and weapons and also one of the major strongholds of the Iranian regime abroad. I mean they use Venezuelan financial system to bypass financial sanctions and they use our territory to operate freely.

26:54 And what about China? Can you share a little bit about China’s relationship with Venezuelan leadership in Maduro and when that became a more intimate economic tie?

27:11 Well, Venezuela turned out to be China’s main debtor with over 60 billion dollars in debts that accounted for all kinds of different projects that were never built. And certainly China realized that Venezuela’s natural endowments are unique, absolutely unique, and strategic. Nonetheless, the degree of corruption in the system is so big that China stopped funding Maduro about seven years ago and simply is getting the oil to pay for the debts that are still pending.

27:59 I believe China understands the strategic importance Venezuela has also for its geographic location. But has been more prudent because of the degree of corruption that they have suffered from Maduro and the regime. But there’s also the side of the intelligence, espionage and technology and satellites from China that have been installed in Venezuela. That’s a very important dimension for them as well.

28:36 Venezuela is a country of I think 28 million people. By some estimates 8 million people have fled the country. Does that feel accurate to you? Can you provide some anecdotes of why people leave, where they go, and what it’s like in the country that’s causing this mass exodus of the population?

28:55 Look, we are a nation of a little over 30 million. I mean, this is a country where you have no information whatsoever. Imagine living in a country where you don’t know how many you are. You don’t know what’s the size of your debt or your GDP or inflation. Nothing. It’s a black box. That’s why it’s also a challenge in terms of what’s coming up but roughly 9 million people have left. It is around 30% of our population. Imagine if 30% of American people leave what it would mean. It’s devastating because we’re seeing our young people, our children, doctors, engineers, scientists, nurses, teachers.

29:44 And of course they go because the situation from an economic perspective is horrible but mostly because you don’t see a future in your country because you feel there’s no possibility to survive. So women that have left their young children back only to send something for them to eat. Children that have left their parents alone. I’ve met so many grandparents that have not met their grandchildren yet and they cry and hug me and ask me please please bring my grandchildren back.

30:25 And we all know that the only possibility for that to happen is that we have a transition to democracy. And when that happens David you will see the day Maduro goes hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans voluntarily coming back even though they know it’s a hard moment that we’ll have to work really hard but we know the potential, that unique potential. And they want to be part of this. It’s much more than a political struggle for us. It’s an existential struggle as a nation and also spiritual struggle as well.

31:02 A lot of people will say why don’t they go on the streets today. Can you talk a little bit about the intimidation of the Maduro regime and why it’s so difficult for people to rise up in the way that we have seen other revolutions historically around the world. What keeps that from happening? What are the mechanisms that are used to stay in power by the Maduro regime?

31:24 Look, and we have seen that in Venezuela many times as well. I mean, we’re talking about thousands of times in protests, in peaceful rallies, in people going out by tens of thousands and even hundreds of thousands. But the regime has developed, this regime, Maduro, with the Cuban intelligence mechanisms to infiltrate and anyone who goes out is either detained, harmed, killed, disappeared.

31:55 When we won the election last year in July 28, thousands of people went to the streets while we were counting the votes, which I want to tell you a little bit more ahead. And in a matter of 24 hours 2,500 people were in prison including young people, children, women that were even sexually assaulted, abused just because they had gone out to the streets to peacefully claim for their right for popular sovereignty to be respected.

32:33 But they went beyond that, David. They went to the houses of our activists that had been taking care of the election, that worked as witnesses that took care of the tally sheets and they took them away. And if they weren’t there, then they would grab their families, their mothers, their children, their couples. And every single person who even posted my picture on their Instagram account or X account, whatever, they would go and take them as well.

33:13 So it was so brutal that the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights labeled it as state terrorism and the fact-finding mission of the United Nations has said those are crimes against humanity. It was so wide, so systematic that what they wanted is to terrify a society. So, we’ve had these last 15 months, a period of darkness as we’ve never seen before.

33:45 I was accused of terrorism. Maduro is searching for me. He said I would spend the rest of my life in prison. Some people think it would be even worse. But all my team which managed the campaign, this incredible campaign that took place, are either in prison or they had to leave the country. So this is a moment in which fear has been imposed by brutal force but that doesn’t mean that Venezuelan society is neutralized.

34:27 On the contrary, as we managed to organize for an incredible epic episode when we won the election. Now we have been organizing underground and preparing for the day in which transition to democracy will come and people will make sure it is an orderly process.

34:49 Maduro has publicly said many times that you are a puppet of the west that the US and its allies are trying to interfere in Venezuelan politics because of their economic interest in the Venezuelan oil reserves. I want to give you a moment to respond to those claims. I think you’ve done an amazing job highlighting your motivation and the on the ground experience, but can we counter or have a conversation about this belief which by the way many have made because of the US involvement in Middle East politics and the US’s absence of involvement in politics in countries that are not oil rich.

35:34 Maybe we could talk a little bit about the importance of this for the West, not just the economic interest but what else is motivating this and why is the US interested in supporting your cause.

35:57 That claim is not very original. I mean that’s what all of these guys say to anyone that speaks out, even if it’s a union leader, student, or a priest. And frankly I couldn’t care less what they say. We know what we are, what we believe, and why people trust us. We have managed to build the strongest citizen movement in our country’s history.

36:12 Starting in 2023 when Venezuela looked hopeless and divided and without a chance to move ahead, we reached out to every single - I went to every single corner of my country. Look, I went with my car because I’ve been banned from leaving Venezuela for over 12 years. I’m not even allowed to buy a local flight ticket. So they thought they were hurting me, but actually they gave me that biggest opportunity to go through my country from one point to the other and to talk to people, to listen, to learn, to understand, to get really close in terms of what we are and what we believe.

36:49 To turn down those barriers the regime had built to divide us and to find out that this is not about left or right or poor, black or white. It is about human dignity. It’s about respect, solidarity, cooperation, freedom, and love - which is the strongest force that has brought us together. I’ve seen people that were close to the Chavistas for years coming to me, crying, hugging me, asking for forgiveness, and I said, “No, I have nothing to forgive.” We have a common goal now. We have a common vision. We all want our kids back. And that’s precisely what’s happening right now.

37:23 So, look, Venezuela is for me the country with the largest opportunities not only for the United States and the rest of the West. I mean, imagine, and I’m not talking about our natural endowments, which are huge. We already addressed that. Or infrastructure or even our geographical position. It’s our people what we have endured and the way we have come together.

37:48 And I’ve heard recently some people talking about that once Maduro goes out - because he will leave soon - there’s this risk of civil war or unrest. Give me a break. We’re talking about a country where 90% of the population we all want the same. There are no religious differences. There are no racial tensions, no social or political differences. We all want the same. And we have fought so hard for freedom that we are the ones who are guaranteed that this will be an orderly transition.

38:21 And yes, we are close to the United States values and culture. Yes, we are. We admire a nation that has strong democratic institutions that feel proud for their achievements, their history, their legacy and so are we. So look, those kind of socialist rhetoric nowadays is useless in Venezuela. We have only known socialism and Venezuela today is a country I believe that most people embrace open markets, respect for private property, merit and collaboration.

39:07 I want to just talk about the election and then I’d like to ask your view on the United States today. But let’s talk about the election. Two years ago you ran for president. You won the primary with a resounding victory in October 26, 2023. Today, you’re sitting in a basement. You’re not in the office of the president. Can we walk through what happened? What was that campaign like? How did you reach the people given that you didn’t have access to the state media and then maybe share a little bit about that primary victory and what happened afterwards?

39:57 Yeah, we realized as I said in January 2023 that we needed to get trust back. Venezuelan people trust ourselves and trust each other. And the primary had this incredible opportunity of giving power to the people and not the political parties that used to decide which the candidates were. So we decided to push for a primary and a primary in which the regime would not get involved.

40:28 In Venezuela in previous primaries process the regime electoral entity would organize primaries and we said this time no way we’re going to do it organized by citizens. It was a huge challenge and a great risk and we believe the regime totally underestimated us. They thought that perhaps 100,000-200,000 people might appear and vote and so on and that’s why they let it go, let it run.

41:13 And when October 22nd, it’s two years ago exactly, they came, I was a candidate, there were 10 candidates, and I thought, well, it’s a miracle that this is happening as we’re seeing it. At mid morning around 10 or 11 in the morning, I start getting calls from all around the country saying, “We ran out of ballots.” I said, “What do you mean? I mean, it’s only 3 hours of the process. What do you mean we ran out of ballots?”

41:41 So many people showed up. Over 3 million Venezuelans. And it was such a courageous act, David, because going out meant that you were voting for the opposition. So this was huge. I’m talking about remote towns that we needed river boats in order to get the results and also Venezuelans around the world because I insisted and many of us that Venezuelans abroad, our diaspora, should be allowed to vote. So that day our country came together.

42:18 I am humbled. I am grateful. I got 92% of the votes and Maduro realized that they wouldn’t be able to stop me. So, they banned me from participating. Confess to you that it was one of those really tough days in your life because it was so unfair. I mean, I had a mandate, but I could have blown everything, but I decided, no, we have to keep on going, and we’re gonna find someone that is willing to take my place.

42:52 And once again, the regime underestimated us because they accepted a 74-year-old diplomat that nobody knew who he was. A super honest, loyal, intelligent, good person, but no one knew who he was. This is Edmundo Gonzalez. Exactly. Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia. And I had a poster with his face. So I went all over the country telling if you want to vote for me, you have to vote for him. And this is the guy.

43:25 And at the same time, remember we had had over 30 elections that progressively were more and more and more fraudulent. Edmundo Gonzalez, he became your candidate in May of 2024, the elections were in July. So, imagine at this time, nobody knew who the candidate was and everybody knew we were facing the most fraudulent system in the world.

43:58 I mean the concept of election fraud that’s been spreading around the world, it was born here in Venezuela with the electronic machines and all the stuff they’ve been creating around it. Fear, manipulation, altering the register and so on. So we realized that we needed to use technology in our favor and that’s why we managed to create a legion of volunteers.

44:31 We trained them without the regime noticing that we were training them. There were 5,000 sessions in person and over 300,000 people trained by the internet. We developed apps for cell phones in which we would monitor every single polling station around the country.

44:57 How many people did you recruit to this legion for the ballot monitoring? It ended up being more than 1 million volunteers. Everyone with a specific task. David, we had no money. We could not print flyers or posters. You know how much was our publicity budget? Zero. We didn’t pay for one ad. Nothing.

45:27 When we went around the country and we stayed in hotels, the regime would come the next day and close a hotel. If we went and stopped in the street to buy some food, then they would punish the restaurant or the snack place. I mean, they blocked streets. They got our people in prison, persecuted those that were in control of the electoral and organization departments. I mean, this was huge. But they turned this into an epic and citizens decided that it was going to be their own epic, their own victory.

46:10 So we trained all these people with our diaspora. We had this app designed and we knew - and this is a very important part - that we had to prove our victory for the first time. We needed to prove the results. So we designed a system through which we would collect the original tally sheets. We would scan them and we would publish them in a digitized web page super robust for the whole world to see.

46:51 And in order to do this, imagine we are in a country where 60% of our territory doesn’t have access to the internet or even cellular phones. So we needed to geooptimize processing centers to process the physical sheets and we did that. We smuggled Starlink antennas into the country, generators, laptops, cell phones, and without the regime noticing it, we installed these 130 operational places.

47:31 And in less than 24 hours we were able to prove our victory with the original images of the tally sheets being seen and scrutinized by the whole world. They were audited by over 20 different independent technicians and universities and they all concluded that those were the real results. So to be honest, I think we have set a new standard for electoral integrity, not only in dictatorships, even for democracies.

48:06 And the data that you shared showed that you won a resounding victory. Your party won the presidency and Maduro declared himself the winner. Since then, he’s issued a warrant for your arrest. What is next for you? What is next for the country?

48:25 Look, it’s been such a long way. I mean, we have so many colleagues and friends that are currently in jail that are very far away or even killed. I mean, this has been very painful, but at the same time, we have grown so much. I mean, we’re a different society, but also we’re different and better individuals. We’ve learned the value of living in democracy and being free.

49:00 And now we’ve come such a long way. We defeated Maduro in the hearts and minds of the Venezuelan people. We defeated Maduro in the ballot boxes. We defeated Maduro in the spirit of Venezuela. And now the only thing he’s got left is his violence and a few top brass individuals and financial enablers that have terrified those in the military that still are supporting him.

49:32 But these last 15 months of resilience and resistance have created more and more pressure from within and now finally we’re seeing a reaction from abroad. For years, we have asked the world to understand that this is a criminal structure. And as such, in order to break it down, you need to cut the inflows of criminal money that comes from drug trafficking, from gold smuggling, from human trafficking, or the black market of oil. You need to cut those inflows. And that’s precisely what President Trump is doing right now.

50:10 And we are very grateful to see this international coalition that is applying the law, the enforcement of the law on this criminal structure which is what we need. I mean Maduro for so long these years has felt that he could disappear, kill, torture people with absolute zero cost. The time of impunity has ended and I believe the regime is its weakest position ever. They understand this is serious.

50:45 There is a real threat and we are seeing defections, betrayals, and more and more people from within the regime reaching to us. And what we’re saying is look, we had offered a possibility of a negotiated transition and now that day is closed. We offer everybody that decides to step on the side of the law that they can be part of this huge transformation of Venezuela.

51:14 Can you highlight the moments of the American presidencies, the American administrations, Obama, Biden, Donald Trump, and how they have supported the cause and what’s different today?

51:29 I have to say that we’ve had bipartisan support and you see that in Congress even yesterday. Because there are sensible individuals in the Senate, in the House that understand that it’s for humanitarian reasons because of millions of lives at risk in Venezuela, but it’s also for the national security of the United States. I think that’s pretty well proven at this point.

52:01 But so far, there were only words, only statements and no actions. And when you face a criminal regime, you have to understand that the way to reach peace is through freedom and freedom requires strength and that is moral strength, spiritual strength, and physical strength. And that’s what finally the regime is facing at this point.

52:27 So we are very, very grateful to President Trump and his administration for the visionary and decisive way he has acted, calling things by their names. It requires courage. Not a lot of people were willing to do that before. So now look, we are prepared for an orderly transition. We know what we need to do in the first 100 hours, 100 days to take control of the institutions and our territory.

52:59 Venezuela has been destroyed in every possible way - you see it in our economy, in our security, in our national sovereignty, in the public services, basic services that people require. But our people are tougher and stronger than ever and we are determined to be free. So, this is going to be like a rebirth. We’re going to turn Venezuela from the criminal hub of the Americas into the energy hub, the technology hub, and the democracy hub of the Americas.

53:42 And we will need to do that from scratch, from ruins. But we have our huge incredible diaspora that are willing to come back. And imagine with all the resources we have, the energy, the capacity to produce energy not only natural gas and hydroelectricity, solar and so on. We’re going to be so attractive for those who want to invest as I said not only in energy but in technology, AI, data centers. I mean, we have everything to turn Venezuela into a bright and proud nation very fast.

54:25 And before we wrap, Maria Corina, I’d love to just ask you an important question, which is we are seeing a rise of interest in socialism that’s unprecedented in the history of the United States, largely fueled by what some would argue is a challenging income growth situation, student loan debt. I mean, it’s a very different situation than Venezuela, but many middle class American children are finding themselves unable to progress like every generation before them in US history. They cannot seem to create better lives for themselves than their parents.

55:00 And as a result, we are seeing in cities like New York, Zohran Mamdani being the favorite to become mayor and presidential candidates being discussed that maybe also have a socialist agenda and socialist interest. I want to give you an opportunity to speak to the youth of America about the lessons learned with what Venezuela has gone through with its socialist cycle here and maybe something that you could share that could help them think a little bit more differently about the choices ahead for the American democracy.

55:34 Yes. We went through the same experience 26 years ago. People would warn us and say, watch out what socialism and communism could bring to you. And we would always answer, Venezuela is not Cuba. That’s not going to happen to us. And at the end, look what disaster, devastation. We had 9 million of our people spread around the world. And the fact is that you can only live in peace and prosperity if you have freedom and democracy. That’s our lesson.

56:13 And those who offer to give you for free what you need to get on your own with hard work, at the end end up charging you with the most valuable asset you could have which is your freedom, your capacity to decide and to make your own decisions. And that’s a great lesson. I mean when you have the state on top of you, that means whole society will probably be equal in misery and poverty.

56:44 So I do trust the American institutions and the American spirit and American dream. And I think these temptations come many times and they are good because they make societies reflect on what they have and understand that freedom and democracy ought to be defended, taken care of every single day of your life. When you lose it, it’s very hard to get it back. And that’s a lesson we’re going to give to our children and our grandchildren.

57:25 And I believe the American people value what they have. And I hope that having so many informed people around you can also get you an idea of the threats and dangers of these systems.

57:38 Maria Corina, courage is speaking truth to power. I cannot think of a more powerful regime to speak truth to and I thank you for your courage, for your leadership. Congratulations on winning the Nobel Peace Prize and thank you for joining me here today.

57:54 Thank you. It was a pleasure and I look forward to hosting you in a free Venezuela where you will see great investment, great prosperity and also peace and freedom from Venezuela to the rest of the region. Thank you so much, David.