Nobel Peace Prize winner Mara Corina Machado with Deputy Leader of the Norwegian Nobel Committee Asle Toje, right, outside the Grand Hotel in Oslo, Friday Dec. 12, 2025. (Ole Berg-Rusten/NTB via AP)2026-01-07T05:44:33Z CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) Venezuelas opposition supporters have long hoped for the day when Nicols Maduro is no longer in power a dream that was fulfilled when the U.S. military whisked the authoritarian leader away. But while Maduro is in jail in New York on drug trafficking charges, the leaders of his repressive administration remain in charge.The nations opposition backed by consecutive Republican and Democratic administrations in the U.S. for years vowed to immediately replace Maduro with one of their own and restore democracy to the oil-rich country. But U.S. President Donald Trump delivered them a heavy blow by allowing Maduros vice president, Delcy Rodrguez, to assume control.Meanwhile, most opposition leaders, including Nobel Peace Prize winner Mara Corina Machado, are in exile or prison.They were clearly unimpressed by the sort of ethereal magical realism of the opposition, about how if they just gave Maduro a push, it would just be this instant move toward democracy, David Smilde, a Tulane University professor who has studied Venezuela for three decades, said of the Trump administration. The U.S. seized Maduro and first lady Cilia Flores in a military operation Saturday, removing them both from their home on a military base in Venezuelas capital, Caracas. Hours later, Trump said the U.S. would run Venezuela and expressed skepticism that Machado could ever be its leader. She doesnt have the support within, or the respect within, the country, Trump told reporters. Shes a very nice woman, but she doesnt have the respect.Ironically, Machados unending praise for the American president, including dedicating her Nobel Peace Prize to Trump and her backing of U.S. campaigns to deport Venezuelan migrants and attack alleged drug traffickers in international waters, has lost her some support at home. The rightful winner of Venezuelas presidential electionMachado rose to become Maduros strongest opponent in recent years, but his government barred her from running for office to prevent her from challenging and likely beating him in the 2024 presidential election. She chose retired ambassador Edmundo Gonzlez Urrutia to represent her on the ballot.Officials loyal to the ruling party declared Maduro the winner mere hours after the polls closed, but Machados well-organized campaign stunned the nation by collecting detailed tally sheets showing Gonzlez had defeated Maduro by a 2-to-1 margin. The U.S. and other nations recognized Gonzlez as the legitimate winner.However, Venezuelans identify Machado, not Gonzlez, as the winner, and the charismatic opposition leader has remained the voice of the campaign, pushing for international support and insisting her movement will replace Maduro.In her first televised interview since Maduros capture, Machado effusively praised Trump and failed to acknowledge his snub of her opposition movement in the latest transition of power.I spoke with President Trump on Oct. 10, the same day the prize was announced, not since then, she told Fox News on Monday. What he has done as I said is historic, and its a huge step toward a democratic transition. Hopes for a new electionU.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Sunday seemed to walk back Trumps assertion that the U.S. would run Venezuela. In interviews, Rubio insisted that Washington will use control of Venezuelas oil industry to force policy changes, and called its current government illegitimate. The country is home to the worlds largest proven crude oil reserves.Neither Trump nor Rodrguez have said when, or if, elections might take place in Venezuela. Venezuelas constitution requires an election within 30 days whenever a president becomes permanently unavailable to serve. Reasons listed include death, resignation, removal from office or abandonment of duties as declared by the National Assembly. That electoral timeline was rigorously followed when Maduros predecessor, Hugo Chvez, died of cancer in 2013.On Tuesday, U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, a close Trump ally who traveled with the president on Air Force One on Sunday, said he believes an election will happen but did not specify when or how. Were going to build the country up infrastructure wise crescendoing with an election that will be free, the South Carolina Republican told reporters.But Maduro loyalists in the high court Saturday, citing another provision of the constitution, declared Maduros absence temporary meaning there is no election requirement. Instead, the vice president which is not an elected position takes over for up to 90 days, with a provision to extend to six months if approved by the National Assembly, which is controlled by the ruling party. Challenges lie ahead for the oppositionIn its ruling, Venezuelas Supreme Court made no mention of the 180-day limit, leading to speculation that Rodrguez could try to cling to power as she seeks to unite ruling party factions and shield it from what would certainly be a stiff electoral challenge.Machado on Monday criticized Rodrguez as one the main architects of torture, persecution, corruption, narco-trafficking certainly not an individual that can be trusted by international investors.Even if an election takes place, Machado and Gonzlez would first have to find a way back into Venezuela. Gonzlez has been in exile in Spain since September 2024 and Machado left Venezuela last month when she appeared in public for the first time in 11 months to receive her Nobel Prize in Norway.Ronal Rodrguez, a researcher at the Venezuela Observatory in Colombias Universidad del Rosario, said the Trump administrations decision to work with Rodrguez could harm the nations democratic spirit. What the opposition did in the 2024 election was to unite with a desire to transform the situation in Venezuela through democratic means, and that is embodied by Mara Corina Machado and, obviously, Edmundo Gonzlez Urrutia, he said. To disregard that is to belittle, almost to humiliate, Venezuelans.