Venezuelan Opposition Leader Machado Backs US Military Operations in Caribbean
Maria Corina Machado, the leader of Venezuela’s opposition movement, has voiced support for recent U.S. military strikes on boats in the Caribbean Sea that Washington claims were carrying narcotics.
Machado, who recently received the Nobel Peace Prize, said in an interview with Bloomberg News’ podcast that the international community has remained silent for years in the face of drug trafficking and associated criminal activities in Latin America, and that it is now time to cut off the financial lifelines of drug cartels.
Referring to recent U.S. military actions — which according to officials in President Donald Trump’s administration have resulted in the deaths of dozens of suspects — she stressed: “The main objective is to save lives, and Maduro bears the responsibility.”
In the latest of these operations, the U.S. Department of Defense announced it had targeted a vessel suspected of carrying “narcoterrorists.” According to the Trump administration, the total number of fatalities in these operations has reached 61.
Despite the casualties, Machado placed the blame not on the direct role of the U.S., but on Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his associates, urging them to dismantle the drug cartels.
Machado also said she maintains regular contact with senior U.S. officials, including U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, stating: “There is currently a brutal war underway.”
She described Maduro’s regime not as a conventional dictatorship but as part of what she called a “narcoterrorism structure,” claiming Venezuela’s territory and national resources have fallen into the hands of criminal networks.
Her remarks come amid widespread international criticism of extrajudicial military actions that disregard human rights principles. However, Machado’s unreserved defense of such operations has raised questions about her commitment to democratic and humanitarian values.
She concluded by asserting that the only way to end Venezuela’s current crisis is through increased pressure and military intervention — an approach that could escalate, rather than ease, regional tensions.
