00:00we have been under a brutal dictatorship for 26 years the international community has not cared
00:05they have complete they have continued to order us into negotiations with our kidnappers we
00:138 million immigrants who have had to flee we're still not able to return once the trump
00:18administration finishes the job the western hemisphere will be will be brought back to
00:23security russia china iran will be kicked out of venezuela and hopefully the cuban
00:29people uh will also eventually be free from the castro communist cancer whatever is happening uh
00:39in the in the region uh the recent u.s military action that led to the capture of nicolas maduro
00:46has marked an unprecedented moment in venezuela history what do you think about it and and
00:53how is it going to affect the future of venezuela according to you right this um has been an
01:00incredible first step to returning venezuela to democracy we have been under a brutal dictatorship
01:07for 26 years the international community has not cared they have complete they have continued to
01:14order us into negotiations with our kidnappers we had never had leverage against the regime
01:21so we venezuelans were related to see nicolas maduro and cilia flores arrested and taken to the u.s
01:27as an american it was a great operation no u.s casualties there was only one civilian death
01:32on the venezuelan side uh it was actually mostly cubans who died defending major that shows that
01:39venezuela was invaded by cuba thanks to hugo chavez long ago now it's important for the trump administration
01:45to finish the job and get rid of desi rodriguez and diostado cabello because venezuela will not be able
01:52to recover its oil industry its country uh we eight million immigrants who have had to flee we're still
01:58not able to return once the trump administration finishes the job the western hemisphere will be will
02:05be brought back to security russia china iran will be kicked out of venezuela and hopefully the cuban
02:12people uh will also eventually be free from the castro communist cancer that took the western hemisphere
02:22nearly 80 years ago so only uh only the maduro is out but the rest of the government is there with
02:30the vice president stepping in as the new head of the government following maduro's remover how is
02:36her leadership being perceived inside venezuela and and by you uh does this transition bring any sense
02:44of stability or it has added to the uncertainty there's no stability right now this is a transition
02:51a modern transition to democracy takes time it's complex uh like i said the chavista regime is still
02:58running venezuela it's still oppressing people right now venezuelans inside venezuela are more scared
03:03than ever none of the u.s of the chavista regime who can put you in prison for liking the wrong post
03:10on social media so it's very important that the job is done that is our message to the white house
03:17and to the world finish the job so you wouldn't have done this operation to arrest maduro in vain
03:23and thankfully it appears that secretary of state marco rubio is the one that's handling the situation
03:29yesterday he made statements about the next steps and we went as well as our confidence
03:33that with the united states help we will have a proper transition to democracy that gets rid
03:39of dentsy rodriguez and of joseph cabello uh so united states you mentioned about the market
03:45rubio's statement united states has openly linked its action to venezuela vast oil reserves and has
03:50indicated an interest in controlling and managing oil production and exports how do you see it will it
03:57bring any sort of stability and will it bring any sort of economic prosperity in venezuela correct so
04:04that's where the trump administration's interests align with that of venezuelans if donald trump wants
04:09to recover the venezuelan oil industry he's going to have to bring capitalism and democracy back to
04:14venezuela so once that happens we venezuelans are so so happy to do business with the united states because
04:21when we did that we were the richest country in the nation replacing the united states with cuba with
04:26russia china and iran instead created the largest refugee crisis our hemisphere has ever seen so
04:33we would love to work for with the americans the way we used to and what made us the fourth richest
04:39country in the world in 1950. so several opposition leaders have been living in exile for years and
04:47claim power popular legitimacy in the current scenario where power has shifted but remains contested what
04:54role can these leaders realistically play and what do you see the future of these really uh these leaders
04:59in your country listen it's very complex uh unfortunately it's not realistic for our elected
05:06leader in maria corina machado to take power in venezuela because venezuela like i said is still
05:11under a brutal dictatorship the only thing maria corina has is the support of the majority of venezuelans
05:16she does not have power over the institutions she does not have power over the military that's why it's a
05:21a brutal dictatorship and that's why we venezuelans need help because we have lost the control of the
05:27the monopoly of violence the regime has it uh that being said maria corina machado and the venezuelan
05:32opposition have already played a crucial role in this the legitimacy of what the united states is
05:38doing in the in venezuela is helped by the amazing job that edmundo gonzalez maria corina machado and other
05:44activists did by not only winning an election in a dictatorship but then proving that the chavista
05:51stole the election uh so the venezuelan opposition will continue to play a role unfortunately like i
05:56said they don't have guns and right now only the united states government can truly negotiate with
06:03a rural dictatorship that runs venezuela i want to understand from you what how's the situation right
06:10now in venezuela and how bad is this economic situation if we talk about and what does this
06:15moment mean for the country's future in terms of governance democratic process and day-to-date life
06:20of the citizens uh you know a lot of people wonder why there are no celebrations on the streets of
06:26venezuela after they arrest our dictator well because if people go out to celebrate they'll disappear you
06:33so right now i've received plenty of messages from venezuelans they are happy that the dictator has been
06:38arrested they are cautiously optimistic that the trump administration will finish the job but today
06:44they are in more danger than ever because the regime is cornered they're armed civilian groups
06:49are coming out to intimidate people to make sure that no one celebrates maduro's arrest so that's
06:56what's going on right now in terms of the economy it's not a new thing venezuelans have been starving
07:00for decades now um venezuelans cannot find simple products this is what they have been under um
07:08for 26 years so to go back to yes we want to work with the united states it's actually great news
07:14yesterday the trump administration said that derek rodriguez had uh had uh agreed to purchase uh
07:20american products now instead of chinese products instead of uh iranian stuff so that's what venezuelans
07:27want and that will improve the quality of life in venezuelans in menezuela right now who right now don't
07:33have quality of life it has the worst inflation of the world in venezuela and there's no opportunity
07:39so things can only get better so are you optimistic about the future of venezuela when it comes to
07:45democratic process because we have what we are seeing from the past several years and decades
07:49that there that there was no uh like elections were happening but no political leaders were being
07:56uh elected leaders were being installed so now are you hoping that uh with the the changes with all
08:04the changes that new democrat democracy will prevail in the country and new processes will be prevailing
08:10we venezuelans like i said are cautiously optimistic we are more hopeful than we have ever been in this
08:17battle against chavismo it's not over we have not yet won but like i said we are going to focus on
08:24keeping the white house accountable to say to say what they said they were going to do and like i
08:29said i am hopeful because the white house interest of recovering the oil industry of getting china and
08:34iran out of our hemisphere aligns with our interest for venezuelan democracy if donald trump wants to
08:41work in our oil industry he's going to have to bring democracy and capitalism back to venezuela and
08:47that's why we are cautiously optimistic today thank you so much for your time and speaking with us
08:54it was great speaking with you and getting the perspective from your end thank you so much for
08:59asking
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