Maria Machado's desperate wait ends as Trump to meet Venezuelan opposition figure

Washington has announced that Venezuelan opposition figure Maria Corina Machado will meet President Donald Trump this week as pressure grew on the interim leadership in Caracas to speed up the release of political prisoners.

Machado has been sidelined by Washington since US forces abducted long-term leader Nicolas Maduro on January 3, and the Trump administration announced it would be "running" Venezuela.

Disregarding Machado and her understudy Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia, Trump has been working instead with acting president Delcy Rodriguez, left in power with other Maduro officials.

Trump has warned Rodriguez to toe Washington's line or face the consequences – particularly on granting access to the South American country's vast oil reserves.

A US administration official said the Republican president will meet Machado at the White House on Thursday.

Venezuela, meanwhile, announced it had freed 116 more people jailed under Maduro - many for taking part in protests after his disputed 2024 election.

Machado on Monday urged Pope Leo XIV to "intercede" on behalf of prisoners.

"I asked him to intercede for all Venezuelans who remain kidnapped and disappeared," Machado said after an audience with the pontiff at the Vatican.

Gonzalez Urrutia – who ran as the opposition's presidential candidate in 2024 after Machado was disqualified – said "every hour that passes is a new form of violence against families" of prisoners.

Rodriguez, despite being a staunch Maduro ally, is negotiating with Washington, which is looking to take advantage of Venezuela's vast oil reserves.

‘Really well’

US envoys visited Caracas last week to discuss reopening Washington's embassy there seven years after diplomatic ties were severed.

On Sunday, Trump said he was open to a meeting with Rodriguez and that his administration was working "really well" with hers.

He said he hoped the freed prisoners "will remember how lucky they got that the USA came along and did what had to be done."

Machado said she had underscored Urrutia's "legitimacy" in her talks with Leo and sought the pope's backing for "the prompt advancement of the transition to democracy in Venezuela."

The opposition considers Urrutia the legitimate victor of Venezuela's last presidential election.

Machado was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize last year, and she dedicated it to Trump, who has made no secret of his frustration at being passed over for the award.

In Caracas, on Monday, Rodriguez made a number of ministerial changes, naming a former Maduro bodyguard as minister of the presidential office, charged with managing her agenda and liaising with state agencies.

She also replaced the head of the presidential guard, who leads the feared counterintelligence unit.

Her government said it was ready to pursue a "new agenda" with the European Union and Britain following talks Monday with their envoys.