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Agence France-Presse

Washington announced on Monday that Venezuelan opposition figure Maria Corina Machado will meet US President Donald Trump this week as pressure grew on the interim leadership in Caracas to speed up the release of political prisoners.
Machado has been sidelined by Washington since US forces seized long-term authoritarian leader Nicolas Maduro on January 3 and the Trump administration announced it would be “running” Venezuela.
Disregarding Machado and her understudy Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia, Trump has been working instead with acting president Delcy Rodriguez, left in power with other Maduro allies.
Trump has warned Rodriguez to toe Washington’s line or face the consequences - particularly on granting access to the South American country’s vast oil reserves.

A US administration official said the Republican president would meet Machado at the White House on Thursday.
Venezuela, meanwhile, announced it had freed 116 more people jailed under Maduro - many for taking part in protests after his disputed 2024 election.
Rights groups questioned the numbers, and family members clamoured for speedier releases promised by Caracas under pressure from Washington.
Relatives have been camped out at prisons for days, growing increasingly restless as loved ones have failed to appear.
“We simply ask that they keep their word,” said Manuel Mendoza, who had driven six hours to be at the El Rodeo 1 prison, about 30km (19 miles) from Caracas, for his son Jose Daniel’s anticipated release.
“It’s already been four nights waiting out in the open air, suffering.”

UN experts and the opposition said only about 50 prisoners have been freed so far out of the 800-1,200 that rights groups estimated were being held.
Machado on Monday urged Pope Leo to “intercede” on behalf of prisoners.
“I asked him to intercede for all Venezuelans who remain kidnapped and disappeared,” Machado said after an audience with the pontiff at the Vatican.
Gonzalez Urrutia - who ran as the opposition’s presidential candidate in 2024 after Machado was disqualified by institutions loyal to Maduro - said “every hour that passes is a new form of violence against families” of prisoners.
Rodriguez, despite being a staunch Maduro ally, has been negotiating with Washington, which was looking to take advantage of Venezuela’s vast oil reserves.
US envoys visited Caracas last week to discuss reopening Washington’s embassy there seven years after diplomatic ties were severed.


On Sunday, Trump said he was open to a meeting with Rodriguez and that his administration was working “really well” with hers.
He said he hoped the freed prisoners “will remember how lucky they got that the USA came along and did what had to be done”.
But experts mandated to a UN fact-finding mission said in a statement Monday that the dozens of people freed so far was “far short of Venezuela’s international human rights obligations.”
Frustration was growing among about 40 relatives still camped out outside El Rodeo 1 prison, where some had set up tents.
Rights NGO Foro Penal said 15 people had been released from the facility, but family members said they were whisked away through a back exit without seeing the loved ones waiting for them.
The government in Caracas said a review of prisoner files was ongoing.




Machado said she had underscored Urrutia’s “legitimacy” in her talks with Leo and sought the pope’s backing for “the prompt advancement of the transition to democracy in Venezuela”.
The opposition and much of the international community consider Urrutia the legitimate victor of Venezuela’s last presidential election.
Machado was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize last year and dedicated it to Trump, who has made no secret of his frustration at being passed over for the award.
When asked by presenter Sean Hannity whether she had offered to give Trump her Nobel Prize, she replied: “It hasn’t happened yet. But I certainly would love to be able to personally tell him that we believe - the Venezuelan people, because this is a prize of the Venezuelan people - certainly want to, to give it to him and share it with him”.
Machado added: “What he has done is historic. It’s a huge step towards a democratic transition”.
However, according to the Nobel Institute in Oslo, this was not possible. “A Nobel Prize can neither be revoked, shared, nor transferred to others. Once the announcement has been made, the decision stands for all time,” the institute said in a statement.
In Caracas on Monday, Rodriguez made a number of ministerial changes, naming a former Maduro bodyguard as minister of the presidential office - charged with managing her agenda and liaising with state agencies.
She also replaced the head of the presidential guard, who leads the feared counter-intelligence unit.
Her government said it was ready to pursue a “new agenda” with the European Union and Britain following talks Monday with their envoys.
Additional reporting by dpa


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Relatives of inmates hug each other after visiting their loved one at El Rodeo 1 prison, outside Caracas in Venezuela. Photo: AFP

Venezuela’s interim president Delcy Rodriguez. Photo: Reuters

Pope Leo meets with Venezuelan opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner Maria Machado at the Vatican. Photo: Vatican Media via Reuters

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A Liberian-flagged oil-chemical tanker sails through Havana Bay in Cuba. Photo: Reuters

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Illustration: Craig Stephens

Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim (left) handing over the rotating chair gavel to Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr at the closing ceremony of the 47th Asean summit in Kuala Lumpur on October 28. Photo: Xinhua

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Nobel peace laureate Maria Corina Machado greets supporters from a balcony of a hotel in Oslo, Norway, last month. Photo: AFP

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 ExxonMobil CEO Darren Woods at the White House on Friday. Photo: AP

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Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel speaks during an event held in support of Venezuela, in Havana on January 3. Photo: EPA

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White House plans Thursday talks with the Nobel winner while continuing to engage Venezuela’s leaders on oil access and prisoner releases


White House plans Thursday talks with the Nobel winner while continuing to engage Venezuela’s leaders on oil access and prisoner releases.


Trump sets meeting with Machado as Venezuela frees more prisoners

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}White House plans Thursday talks with the Nobel winner while continuing to engage Venezuela’s leaders on oil access and prisoner releases

White House plans Thursday talks with the Nobel winner while continuing to engage Venezuela’s leaders on oil access and prisoner releases