Machado herself, a center-right leader, has been supportive of Trump administration actions to limit the influence and power of the Maduro regime. In an appearance on Donald Trump, Jr.’s podcast Triggered in February, Machado expressed optimism that the Maduro regime would fall soon because, under Trump, “there is a very strong new administration that had the correct vision on how to address a criminal structure.”

Of the Maduro regime, she emphasized, “this is not a political actor, this is a criminal structure that should be addressed from a law enforcement approach” – referring to Maduro’s close ties to the Cartel de los Soles, a cocaine-trafficking operation, and the transnational terror gang Tren de Aragua, which Maduro unleashed to cause havoc in North America in late 2023.