Now that Nicolas Maduro is gone, the question is: who can take over as the country’s president?
If we are talking about an entire regime collapse – meaning all key players in the Maduro government stand down as well – then one could safely assume the opposition would be in a position to take charge of the country.
One name that will immediately spring to mind for president is, of course, Maria Corina Machado. She has been saying for months that the opposition is ready to run the country.
Venezuela crisis: Follow the latest developments
Ms Machado, known affectionately in Venezuela as simply “Maria Corina”, is the most vocal of the country’s opposition leaders. You may recognise her as this year’s Nobel Peace Prize winner.
The general assumption outside of Venezuela is that naturally Ms Machado would be the next president if the opposition were to take over.
However, it’s not as simple as that – with Donald Trump claiming in a news conference that “she doesn’t have the support within or the respect within the country”.
He declared that the US will be taking control of Venezuela for now, perhaps in coordination with one of Nicolas Maduro’s most trusted aides.
That’s Delcy Rodriguez, who is next in the line of succession. She has served as vice president since 2018 – and yesterday, Venezuela’s high court ordered her to assume the role of interim president.
“She’s essentially willing to do what we think is necessary to make Venezuela great again,” Mr Trump said.
The US president added that Rodriguez had a long conversation with his Secretary of State Marco Rubio, in which she reportedly said: “We’ll do whatever you need.”
“I think she was quite gracious,” Mr Trump said. “We can’t take a chance that somebody else takes over Venezuela that doesn’t have the good of the Venezuelan people in mind.”
Maria Corina Machado was banned from running in the 2024 presidential elections, so she transferred her support base to a relatively unknown former diplomat, Edmundo Gonzalez, and it was he who officially won the contested election.
That is why inside Venezuela, most people assume he will be the next president if the country follows the constitution.
Although Maduro’s government disputes this, Mr Gonzalez was considered by many countries, and most Venezuelans, as the rightful winner of the presidential election in 2024.
His victory was revealed by a very clever move by opposition political parties to take photos of the ballot returns at over 80% of voting stations nationwide, before they were returned to the country’s electoral commission, which, not knowing the opposition had taken the pictures, doctored the results and handed the election to the incumbent Maduro.
Read more:
US general reveals how America captured Venezuela’s president
Maduro combined swaggering incompetence with ruthless repression
Neither the electoral commission nor Maduro’s government have ever acknowledged the fact that the results were contested.
Mr Gonzalez is currently in Madrid as far as we are aware. He had no choice but to leave the country when the final declaration was made because he became a wanted man, and has been in Spain ever since.
As it stands, the assumption is that Mr Gonzalez would return and assume the presidency he officially won in July 2024. Under the constitution he would be sworn in as president, not Ms Machado.
A Venezuelan constitutional lawyer, who doesn’t want to be named, explained the process to Sky News.
“Legally the elected president is Edmundo, and there is no legal path for Maria Corina to become president at this time,” he said.
He continued: “Constitutionally, Mr Gonzalez’s term began on 10 January 2025, and is fixed for six years, regardless of when he is actually sworn in.”
He went on to say that Mr Gonzalez could appoint Ms Machado as vice president, and if he wanted to hand over the presidency to her, he could only do that after four years in office – in that scenario he would either call new elections or stand down.
There’s no doubting the face of the opposition abroad is Ms Machado.
Indeed, in her Nobel Peace Prize reaction speech, she thanked Donald Trump for supporting their cause.
“I dedicate this prize to the suffering people of Venezuela and to President Trump,” she said at the time.
Ms Machado has courted US intervention in Venezuela by identifying to Mr Trump three specific areas that affect the US: migration, terrorism, and drugs.
This approach has appealed to the American president and Mr Rubio – a Cuban-American who has long wanted regime change in both Venezuela and Cuba.
As a result, some of Ms Machado’s supporters were outraged by Mr Trump’s comment during a news conference yesterday.
Perhaps there is a world in which Ms Machado could lead a transitional government supported by the US and immediately call for a new round of elections.
She is hugely popular in Venezuela and would likely win an election if one were to be called now.
It’s worth remembering though, there are multiple opposition parties in Venezuela, and right now they’re all working together in an informal coalition, but with Maduro gone, the dynamic between these parties could change, and other candidates may come to the fore.
Above all, the Venezuelan people want it done the right way, the constitutional way – they say they don’t want their rights trampled on, or anybody forced on them, as has been the case for years.
