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Venezuela's Machado says interim leader receiving orders, hopes for transition to democracy
Machado on Friday said that she was confident the remnants of what she called a “criminal regime” would eventually be dismantled in the South American country
Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado on Friday said that Venezuela's interim leader Delcy Rodriguez is receiving "orders," apparently suggesting they were coming from the United States, which seized the country's authoritarian president in a raid. She also expressed hope that there will be an orderly transition to elections.
"She is not in agreement of her own free will" and is rather "following orders," AFP quoted Machado as saying during an event in Washington.
‘Remnants of the criminal regime will be dismantled.’
Machado on Friday also said that she was confident the remnants of what she called a “criminal regime” would eventually be dismantled in the South American country and there would be an orderly transition to free elections, Reuters reported.
Machado spoke to the reporters in Washington a day after she met with President Donald Trump and presented her Nobel Peace Prize to him, while swaying him to give her a role in the future of Venezuela.
Machado also expressed confidence that there will be an orderly transition to elections. However, she stressed that it was a delicate and complex process that would take time to unfold, the report said.
“This has nothing to do with tension or relations between Delcy Rodriguez and me,” she said, but insisted that a “criminal structure” that has dominated Venezuela for years would eventually dismantle itself. She did not elaborate on how this would happen.
Still, Machado had harsh words for Rodriguez, Maduro's former vice president. She branded Venezuela's new leader a "communist," said she was afraid of Trump and controls a "repressive" system, but not the military, making her position unsustainable, the report said.
Meanwhile, Venezuela's interim leader Delcy Rodriguez met with the US Central Intelligence Agency chief John Ratcliffe on Thursday.
An official told AFP that Director Ratcliffe travelled to Venezuela on the directions of Trump to meet with interim president Delcy Rodriguez and deliver the message that the United States looks forward to an improved working relationship.
