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Venezuelan opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Maria Corina Machado sidestepped a direct question on whether she would welcome U.S. military intervention in Venezuela — instead declaring that the country has “already been invaded” by Russian, Iranian, Hezbollah, Hamas and Colombian guerrilla networks, empowered under Nicolás Maduro. Machado accused the Maduro government of allowing terror groups, drug cartels, human-trafficking networks, and foreign agents to operate freely across Venezuela. She said only by cutting these illegal funding flows can repression collapse and “the regime’s violence and terror” finally end.
00:00Thank you. So then we open up for questions, and the first question comes from the Norwegian broadcaster TV2.
00:07I have a question for you, Maria Corina Machado.
00:12You arrived just a few hours ago, and you got to reunite with your family in a very long time.
00:19How was that first meeting, and how has your first hours in Oslo been?
00:25I couldn't sleep last night going over and over again that first instant when I saw my children.
00:38And for many weeks I had been thinking of that possibility, and which one of them I would hug first.
00:48And to tell you something, I hugged them the three at the same time, and it's been one of the most extraordinary spiritual moments of my life.
01:00And that happened in Oslo, so I'm very grateful to this city, something I will never forget.
01:06Because at the end, I'm just one of millions of innocent mothers that are longing to embrace their children, and are not able to do that.
01:15That brings us together. And I made a promise to them.
01:20I would come here, on their behalf, to receive the prize, and I will take that prize back to them.
01:28Because we will make it, what I experienced hours ago, we will make it a reality for every one of them.
01:37Those that have their children in jail, persecuted in exile. We will make that happen.
01:43The next question comes from the Swedish broadcaster, Sveriges Radio.
01:48Hello, David Rasmussen, Swedish Radio.
01:51Yesterday, the U.S. seized a ship outside the coast of Venezuela.
01:57Would you welcome a U.S. military intervention in Venezuela?
02:04Look, some people talk about invasion in Venezuela, the threat of an invasion in Venezuela.
02:11And I answered, Venezuela has been already invaded.
02:15We have the Russian agents. We have the Iranian agents.
02:18We have terrorist groups such as Hezbollah, Hamas, operating freely in accordance with the regime.
02:25We have the Colombian guerrilla, the drug cartels that have taken over 60% of our populations.
02:31And not only involved in drug trafficking, but in human trafficking, in networks of prostitution.
02:37So, this has turned Venezuela into the criminal hub of the Americas.
02:42And what sustained the regime is a very powerful and funded, strongly funded repression system.
02:50Where does that funds come from? Well, from drug trafficking, from the black market of oil, from arms trafficking, for human trafficking.
02:59We need to cut those flows. And once it happens, and repression is weakened, it's over.
03:08Because that's the only thing the regime has left, violence and terror.
03:12So, we ask the international community to cut those sources.
03:17Because the other regimes that support Maduro and the criminal structure are very active.
03:24And have turned Venezuela into the safe heaven for their operations into the rest of Latin America.
03:32The next question comes from the Norwegian broadcaster NRK.
03:36You have had meetings with politicians at the Norwegian parliament and Prime Minister Stöhr this morning.
03:45Have you asked for any kind of support from the Norwegian government for your fight for democracy in Venezuela?
03:51We had a great conversation this morning and I am very excited also with what I experienced at the parliament.
04:00I am a former member of the parliament.
04:02And to see an actual parliament working, you know, with representatives of parties in all the spectrum, you know, passionately and respectfully defending their views is something I, you know, mean so much.
04:18And yes, the answer is yes.
04:21Not only right now, we need to speak out, to tell the truth.
04:27So that people understand what our country is suffering.
04:30What our political prisoners are going through.
04:33Children in Venezuela only go twice a week to public schools.
04:39Because teachers earn one dollar a day.
04:43So they have to get other jobs.
04:46So we have our children in the streets.
04:48And you know what it means in terms of the future and the risks they run.
04:52So, yes, we need to speak out.
04:55We need to cut these resources that support repression now.
05:01But also, we will need a lot of ideas and advice regarding, you know, building up institutions such as the energy agency that we want to build in Venezuela for the new hydrocarbon sector that will, you know, arise in our country.
05:28Can I just follow up to say that the laureate does not have to ask for that support because we respect the will of the Venezuelan people.
05:35And that is clear.
05:37They expressed under very difficult circumstances their views in an election, which gave, according to all sources, international and domestic, overwhelming response.
05:47They want another course.
05:48They want a democratic regime.
05:50And for Norway, you know, respecting the rule of law and the main principles of the UN Charter is key.
05:56So we want to see that change happen.
05:59I think what we learned from these days talking to not only Venezuelan guests but also representatives of Latin America is that you need a combination of what comes from inside and what comes from outside.
06:12And we are from outside and we are, of course, ready to support Venezuela, democratic Venezuela, in building new and sound institutions.
06:19They can count on that.
06:21And the last question today comes from CNN.
06:24Hi, Marocarina.
06:25I'm Pao Mosquera with CNN.
06:27So now you've been in hiding for many, many months.
06:30Do you think that the government may have known where were you during this time?
06:35I don't think they have known where I have been and certainly they would have done everything to stop me from coming here.
06:48And actually, I want to take advantage of your question to thank all those men and women that risked their lives so that I could be here today.
07:02One day I will be able to tell you because certainly I don't want to put them in risk right now.
07:11It was quite an experience.
07:14But I think it's worthwhile being here with you, telling the world what's happening in Venezuela, what it means to you as Norwegians and as Europeans or from all the places where you come from.
07:30Why Venezuela matters for the world.
07:34I mean, when you fight for freedom, you're fighting for humanity.
07:39And when we win because we will, this will be an extraordinary example for those countries that today do not have freedom.
07:50And that people are telling them what we used to hear, that it was impossible, impossible to achieve it.
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