Opposition Leader and Nobel Laureate Machado [WATCH]

Venezuela opposition leader and Nobel laureate María Corina Machado said Venezuela has already been invaded by foreign agents, terrorist organizations, guerrilla groups, and drug cartels, arguing that the country has been turned into a criminal hub sustained by repression funded through illegal activity.

Machado made the remarks in response to a question from a reporter following the seizure of a vessel off Venezuela’s coast by the United States.

“Yesterday, the US seized a ship outside the coast of Venezuela. Would you welcome a US military intervention in Venezuela?” the reporter asked.

Machado rejected the framing of a future invasion and said the country is already occupied by hostile foreign and criminal forces.

“Look, some people talk about invasion in Venezuela, the threat of an invasion in Venezuela? And I answered, Venezuela has been already invaded,” Machado said.

She listed multiple foreign and non-state actors she said are operating inside the country with the cooperation of the regime.

“We have the Russian agents. We have the Iranian agents. We have terrorist groups such as Hezbollah Hamas operating freely in accordance with the regime,” Machado said.

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She said armed groups and criminal organizations control large portions of the country.

“We have the Colombian guerrilla the drug cartels that have taken over 60% of our populations, and not only involved in drug trafficking, but in human trafficking, in networks of prostitution,” she said.

Machado said the presence of these groups has transformed Venezuela into a center for organized crime across the hemisphere.

“So this has turned Venezuela into the criminal hub of the Americas,” she said.

She said the Maduro regime’s ability to remain in power depends on a heavily financed system of repression and violence.

“And what sustained the regime is a very powerful and funded, strongly funded repression system,” Machado said.

Machado identified the sources of funding she said keep the regime in control.

“Where does that funds come from? Well, from drug trafficking, from the black market of oil, from arms trafficking, for human trafficking,” she said.

She said cutting off those revenue streams would weaken the regime’s grip on power.

“We need to cut those flows. And once it happens and repression is weakened, it’s over, because that’s the only thing the regime has left, violence and terror,” Machado said.

Machado said she and others have appealed to the international community to take action against those funding channels.

“So we asked the international community to cut those sources,” she said.

She said foreign governments aligned with Venezuela’s regime are actively supporting what she described as a criminal structure operating beyond the country’s borders.

“Because the other regimes that support Maduro and the criminal structure are very active and have turned Venezuela into the into the safe haven for their operations into the rest of Latin America,” Machado said.

Machado’s remarks framed Venezuela’s crisis as one driven by foreign-backed criminal networks and illegal economies that sustain repression and instability throughout the region.

WATCH:

Reporter: Yesterday, the U.S. seized a ship off the coast of Venezuela. Would you welcome a U.S. military intervention in Venezuela?

María Corina Machado: Look, some people talk about an invasion in Venezuela, the threat of an invasion, and I answer: Venezuela has already been… pic.twitter.com/viNJ6gDQuI

— Open Source Intel (@Osint613) December 11, 2025