Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado made an open plea Saturday for a power transfer, calling on the military to leave Nicolás Maduro’s government and acknowledge opposition-backed candidate Edmundo González as president following the U.S. announcement that Maduro had been detained.
Machado’s remarks came hours after President Trump stated that U.S. forces had taken Maduro into custody following what he called “large-scale” military strikes against the Venezuelan government. Trump added that Maduro and his wife were airlifted out of the country—a step that would represent the most direct U.S. military action against a Latin American leader in decades.
“The hour of freedom has arrived,” she wrote in a post on X. “This is the hour of the citizens. Those of us who risked everything for democracy on July 28th. Those of us who elected Edmundo González Urrutia as the legitimate President of Venezuela, who must immediately assume his constitutional mandate and be recognized as Commander-in-Chief of the National Armed Forces by all the officers and soldiers who comprise it.”
As of Saturday, it was still unclear whether senior military commanders had shifted their loyalty or if the opposition had secured control of state institutions.
Machado also urged Venezuelans within the country to stay “vigilant, active and organized,” noting that additional guidance would be shared via official opposition channels. For Venezuelans living abroad, she pushed for immediate mobilization to pressure foreign governments to recognize a new leadership in Caracas.
Early Saturday morning, the U.S. carried out strikes on Caracas, took Maduro and his wife into custody, and flew them to to face drug trafficking charges.
Machado and González have repeatedly claimed that the July 28 was stolen, citing an opposition-led parallel vote tally that they assert shows González won by a significant margin.
Venezuela’s electoral body—controlled by Maduro’s allies—declared him the winner with just under 52% of the vote, versus approximately 43% for González. The government has dismissed fraud allegations.
The opposition, however, says it collected and released tally sheets from polling stations nationwide indicating González received around two-thirds of the vote, compared with roughly 30% for Maduro—a claim referenced by several foreign governments that refused to acknowledge the official results.
Maduro’s government has declined to provide detailed precinct-level data to independently verify the outcome, further fueling accusations that the election did not reflect voters’ will.
While González is the opposition’s presidential nominee, Machado has remained the dominant figure in Venezuela’s opposition movement. Machado won the opposition’s primary in a landslide but was barred from running by Maduro’s government, prompting the coalition to unite behind González as a substitute candidate.
During the campaign, González publicly recognized Machado as the movement’s leader, with Machado continuing to oversee strategy, messaging, and voter mobilization efforts. Machado has stayed the opposition’s public face, while González has largely taken on a formal, constitutional role tied to the presidency.