The Trump Admin’s Slow Breakup with María Corina Machado

Latin America The administration can’t play both sides forever. María Corina Machado is having a bad year. The exiled leader of Venezuela’s opposition has pinned her hopes of returning to lead the country on President Donald Trump, who overturned the hostile government of Nicolas Maduro after a raid to capture the former Venezuelan president. After Maduro’s removal in January, Machado attempted to position herself as the natural leader of a new government in Caracas, and travelled to Washington to personally present Trump with her Nobel Peace Prize—a distinction Trump has openly coveted. But those hopes have been repeatedly disappointed, as Trump has instead preferred to work with a continuation government headed by Maduro’s vice president, Delcy Rodriguez. “I think it would be very tough