Discussion on Machado's impact and US involvement in Venezuela (Part 3)

She was gone for a long time. The United States wasn't in a hurry to get her back. Trump kept talking about Rodriguez instead. And so you. You had this sense of. Very weird for Venezuelans, actually, who, I think some of whom in the democratic opposition had very idealized idea of the United States. They thought, America will come in. You know, they'll. They'll bring back the rule of law. Surely they'll want a legitimate government here in order to work with the United States in the future. And they didn't anticipate the foot dragging, and they didn't anticipate, as I said, Trump's constant references to Rodriguez and his slighting references and his dismissal of Machado and more broadly, the democratic opposition, which, as I say, is the majority of the country. I think it would be very tough for her to be the leader. She doesn't have the support within or the respect within the country. She's a very nice woman, but she doesn't have the respect. So Machado is essentially the rightful leader of this country. The 2024 election results were really, essentially a win for her. What does her presence back in the country now mean for democracy, for open elections? What it now means is that she and her colleagues will begin to galvanize a big national conversation about what happens next, what constitutional reforms they need, what other kinds of reforms they need, how to rebuild the health care system, how to rebuild the economy, which is in a disaster state. Venezuela was once the richest country in South America. Now it's the poorest. She will begin to galvanize people, and her presence and her ability to attract crowds will put pressure, both on the US Embassy in Caracas as well as on the regime, to get the transition moving. Because, as I said, it was theoretically happening, but it was very slow. The people who were participating in the conversations were not people who are recognized widely as legitimate leaders. They were elected in a previous parliament, but they weren't seen as the people leading the country now. So she will now force people's hands. And interestingly, when she came back, Marco Rubio made a statement to the effect of don't think you can conduct politics on the street, something like this. We need to follow the transition process. So you can see that the US Is already nervous about the power she will have to.