The Trump administration recently signed a major oil deal with Venezuela which gave the US a 100-year concession over a staggering 65bn barrels of Venezuelan crude oil.
The deal was reached in conjunction with a Venezuelan private company called North American Blue Energy Partners (NABEP) run by a businessman with a chequered past, Alejandro Betancourt.
Machado has openly criticised the deal which the Rodríguez government reached with the US, albeit careful to direct her criticism at Caracas and at Betancourt rather than President Trump, to whom she gave her peace prize and whose trust and support she craves to move forward.
President Trump has repeatedly said how satisfied he is with Delcy Rodríguez, calling her “wonderful” and “a terrific person”. This was the vice-president of an administration he previously described as made up of “narco-communists”.
But the outpouring of jubilation for Machado’s caravan into the capital shows she can still count on significant support on the streets, says Venezuelan political analyst Beningno Alarcon.
“The return of Maria Corina Machado, in my personal view, is the most significant [political] event since 3rd January,” says Alarcon. “It means the most important political leader in Venezuela is back in the country.”
“The reception for her return shows that her ability to mobilise her support remains intact, which means the opposition in Venezuela now has something very solid: a leadership which is present on the ground as opposed to solely in exile,” he says.
Alarcon provides some evidence that the opposition – and the public at large – feel more emboldened since 3 January, a situation he believes will become only more pronounced with Machado’s reappearance.
