Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado says she “will be president when the time comes”

Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado told CBS News she will one day be president as she pressed for a transition to electoral democracy after Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro’s ouster.

“I will be president when the time comes,” she told “Face the Nation” moderator Margaret Brennan. “But it doesn’t matter. That should be decided in elections by the Venezuelan people.”

Machado was banned from running against Maduro in Venezuela’s last elections in 2024, but she threw her support behind former diplomat Edmundo González Urrutia. The U.S. and much of the international community recognized González Urrutia as the election’s legitimate winner, but Maduro remained in power amid widespread allegations that the results were rigged.

Machado said she was prevented from running in 2024 “because Maduro was afraid [of] running against me, and he thought Edmundo was not a threat, because nobody knew who he was.”

“And in less than three months, we managed to [get] the whole country supporting him, because this is [a] matter of freedom,” added Machado.

It’s not clear when Venezuela might hold its next election. The country is still run by remnants of Maduro’s government, including interim President Delcy Rodriguez, even as Maduro sits in a New York jail awaiting drug charges. President Trump told reporters last week the current leadership of Venezuela has “been working with us so well.”

Mr. Trump was also initially dismissive of the idea of Machado taking power, saying hours after Maduro’s capture, “she’s a very nice woman, but she doesn’t have the respect.”

Less than two weeks later, Machado gave her Nobel Peace Prize medallion to Mr. Trump in recognition of what she called his “historic” action of removing Maduro from power. 

Mr. Trump later said of Machado: “Maybe we can get her involved in some way.”

Watch more of Margaret Brennan’s interview with Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado on “Face the Nation” on Sunday, Feb. 1. The full interview will run on CBSNews.com and on the “Face the Nation” YouTube channel.