✍️ Ambassador Wilmer Omar Barrientos
In Venezuela’s long and turbulent political saga, few names evoke as much controversy as María Corina Machado — the ultra-right-wing figure whose rhetoric, actions, and alliances have for over two decades embodied the politics of confrontation rather than conciliation.
Though recently cast by some Western media outlets as a “democratic reformer” and even tipped for the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize, Machado’s record tells another story — one punctuated by calls for military intervention, incitement to violence, and persistent efforts to unseat elected governments through unconstitutional means.
🕯️ From “Súmate” to the 2002 Coup: The Making of a Political Firebrand
Machado first emerged in the early 2000s as co-founder of Súmate, an NGO financed by U.S. agencies to “promote democracy” — a euphemism, critics say, for external interference in Venezuelan affairs. Her activism coincided with the April 2002 coup d’état against President Hugo Chávez, during which she personally signed the notorious “Carmona Decree” — a document that dissolved all state institutions and granted dictatorial powers to businessman Pedro Carmona Estanga during his brief, 48-hour rule.
What followed was chaos: persecution of Chávez supporters, attacks on state media, and an attempted strike that crippled Venezuela’s oil industry. Machado’s signature became an indelible mark of her complicity in one of Latin America’s most infamous modern coups.
💣 Plots, Protests, and “La Salida”
In 2011, Machado’s flair for media drama surfaced when she staged a fake shooting attack during her presidential pre-campaign — a ruse later exposed through her own phone records. But her most violent phase came in 2014, when she and fellow opposition figure Leopoldo López launched “La Salida” (The Exit) — a campaign of street blockades and violent protests known locally as guarimbas.
The result: dozens of deaths, hundreds injured, and widespread property destruction. One man was even burned alive by opposition mobs incited by messages of hatred on social media.
⚔️ The Call for Invasion
From Washington to Bogotá, Machado has consistently called for foreign military intervention. In 2014, she appeared at the Organization of American States (OAS)—illegally assuming a seat on Panama’s delegation—to plead for the application of the Inter-American Democratic Charter against Venezuela.
In 2019, during the failed “humanitarian aid” incursion led by Juan Guaidó, she went further, urging the creation of a “peace military force” to invade through Cúcuta, Colombia. “International community, support is not enough — you have to enter,” she declared, in what Venezuelan officials later cited as an open call for war.
💀 Sanctions and Human Suffering
In 2015, Machado was among the first Venezuelan politicians to publicly request U.S. sanctions—measures that would later devastate Venezuela’s economy, health system, and social welfare networks.
The sanctions triggered one of Latin America’s largest modern migrations. Ironically, Machado later courted the same diaspora, promising them a “return” while omitting her role in the very economic siege that forced millions to leave.
🧨 From Explosives to the Embassy: The Web of Terror Accusations
Venezuelan intelligence reports link Machado to multiple terrorist plots and attempted assassinations. Among them:
- The 2019–2024 series of alleged sabotage operations targeting state infrastructure, including a failed attack on the Guri hydroelectric dam.
- The PDVSA Muscar gas complex bombing in Monagas, which authorities say was meant to paralyze national gas production.
- A foiled 2025 plot to attack the U.S. Embassy in Caracas, reportedly to provoke an American military response.
Investigators claim Machado collaborated with Erik Prince, founder of the U.S. private military company Blackwater, to orchestrate sabotage and assassination schemes.
🧩 Corruption, Disqualification, and Treason
In 2015, Venezuela’s Comptroller General barred Machado from holding public office due to corruption—a ban reaffirmed in January 2024 by the Supreme Court. Later that year, she was investigated for treason and conspiracy after allegedly supporting a U.S. bill seeking to expand sanctions on Venezuela.
She was also implicated in “El Cucutazo”, a multimillion-dollar scandal involving stolen funds from alleged “humanitarian aid” operations during Juan Guaidó’s short-lived “interim government.”
🕎 Alliances with Zionism and the Global Far Right
Machado’s foreign alliances reveal a consistent ideological alignment with ultra-conservative and Zionist movements. A self-declared admirer of Israel, she pledged to move Venezuela’s embassy to Jerusalem and reestablish relations with Tel Aviv.
In 2018, she publicly addressed letters to Benjamin Netanyahu and Mauricio Macri, urging them to support a military intervention in Venezuela. Her stance places her alongside global far-right figures who back militarism and oppose Palestinian statehood.
🔥 Violence After the Ballot: “Comanditos” and the 2024 Crisis
Following the July 2024 presidential elections, which she denounced as “fraudulent,” violent unrest swept the country. Prosecutor General Tarek William Saab accused Machado of orchestrating the unrest through militant “comanditos” — small paramilitary cells responsible for 25 deaths and nearly 200 injuries.
⚖️ Conclusion: A Paradox in Pursuit of Peace
For her supporters abroad, María Corina Machado is a symbol of “resistance.” For her critics, she is a destabilizing agent cloaked in the rhetoric of democracy — a figure whose calls for freedom are often accompanied by the echo of gunfire, sanctions, and sabotage.
Her political story, stretching from the coup of 2002 to the failed plots of 2024, reads less like a quest for peace and more like a chronicle of unrelenting confrontation.
And yet, in a world where war can wear the mask of peace, her name now circulates among nominees for a Nobel Peace Prize — a paradox that raises a haunting question:
Can one be crowned with peace while standing on the ashes of their own nation’s suffering?
