Machado spoke to reporters in Washington a day after meeting President Donald Trump at the White House, where she presented her Nobel Peace Prize medal to him as she sought to sway him to give the opposition a role in determining Venezuela’s future after the US ousted longtime leader Nicolas Maduro.

Trump has backed former Maduro loyalists, led by interim President Delcy Rodriguez, to govern the Opec nation for now instead of Machado, whose movement was widely seen as the winner of a 2024 election that Maduro was accused of having rigged in his favour.

Confident of orderly move to elections

Since the Jan 3 lightning raid that toppled Maduro, Trump has prioritised gaining access to Venezuela’s vast oil reserves, not restoring democracy to Venezuela, and made clear he sees the current leadership as the best bet for maintaining order.

Machado’s visit to Washington has done little to clarify any role she may have in the changes underway in Venezuela.

She said she insisted in her meeting with Trump on returning to Venezuela as soon as possible, but cited no tangible agreements with the US.

There were instead signs that the Trump administration may be deepening its relationship with what remains of Maduro’s government.

Despite that, Machado gave a mostly upbeat assessment.“I am profoundly, profoundly confident that we will have an orderly transition (to elections),” she told a press conference at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank with close ties to the Trump administration.

However, she stressed that it was a delicate and complex process that would take time to unfold.

“This has nothing to do with tension or relations between Delcy Rodriguez and myself,” 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.

Rodriguez’s government did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

CIA director meets Rodriguez

Coinciding with Machado’s White House visit on Thursday, CIA Director John Ratcliffe flew to Caracas and met Rodriguez, the highest-level known US visit since the toppling of Maduro and another sign of the two sides jockeying for favour with the Trump administration.

Machado made a point of praising Trump, saying she was “absolutely grateful” to him, and avoiding any direct criticism of his approach to post-Maduro Venezuela, which has frustrated many in the country’s opposition.

Machado handed her Nobel medal to Trump in the Oval Office on Thursday, saying he deserved it and that it was recognition of what she called his commitment to the freedom of the Venezuelan people.

The Norwegian Nobel Committee said on Friday the peace prize remains inseparably linked to the person or organisation that won it, though the medal can be given away.

Trump had openly campaigned for the prize before Machado was awarded it last month and complained bitterly when he was snubbed.

He wrote on his Truth Social platform that Machado was a “wonderful woman who has been through so much” and that giving him her medal was “a wonderful gesture of mutual respect”.

The White House later posted a photo of Trump and Machado with the president holding up a large, gold-colored frame displaying the medal.

Seeking Trump’s favour

Machado’s attempt to win Trump’s favour in their first face-to-face meeting came after he dismissed the idea of installing her as Venezuela’s leader to replace Maduro, who was whisked away to New York to face prosecution on “narco-trafficking” charges.

During the visit, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Trump stood by his “realistic” assessment that she did not currently have the support needed to lead the country in the short term.

While declining to offer details of her discussions with Trump, Machado acknowledged “there may be some phase that we hadn’t anticipated or that we don’t like”.

However, she asserted that the opposition was participating in Venezuela’s transition, without offering specifics.

Machado, who fled the South American nation in a daring seaborne escape in December, is competing for Trump’s ear with members of Venezuela’s government and seeking to ensure she has a role in governing the nation going forward.

Trump has on several occasions praised Rodriguez, who became Venezuela’s leader upon Maduro’s capture.

In an interview with Reuters on Wednesday, Trump said, “She’s been very good to deal with”.

Ratcliffe met with Rodriguez at Trump’s direction “to deliver the message that the US looks forward to an improved working relationship,” according to a US official.

The two of them discussed intelligence cooperation, economic stability and the need to ensure Venezuela was no longer a “safe haven for America’s adversaries, especially narco-traffickers,” according to the US official.

Machado was banned from running in Venezuela’s 2024 presidential election by a top court stacked with Maduro allies.

Outside observers widely believe Edmundo Gonzalez, an opposition figure backed by Machado, won by a substantial margin, but Maduro claimed victory and retained power.

In an annual address to lawmakers on Thursday, Rodriguez called for diplomacy with the US and said that should she need to travel to Washington, she would do so “walking on her feet, not dragged there”.

She also said she would propose reforms to her country’s oil industry aimed at increasing access for foreign investors.