By Michelle Velez, CNN
(CNN) — In the months before the United States launched a January raid to capture former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, Venezuela and the US participated in Qatar-mediated talks on what the country might look like if Maduro stepped down.
Yet the vision for a post-Maduro Venezuela discussed in the talks never touched on a role for prominent opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Maria Corina Machado, according to a Qatari source who spoke with CNN.
The source said that neither US nor Venezuelan officials discussed Machado as part of a post-Maduro transition plan, despite her vocal support for US intervention in Venezuela and her strident criticism of the Maduro government.
Shortly after Maduro was captured, US President Donald Trump told reporters that he didn’t think Machado had the “support” within Venezuela necessary to lead a transition. A few weeks afterward, Machado visited Trump at the White House and gave him her Nobel Prize medal. Later, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Trump’s position on Machado’s leadership potential had “not changed.”
At the time, Machado’s adviser David Smolansky said that the opposition figure is “a leader with an out of this world support, and she’s got the support from almost every Venezuelan.”
Instead of Machado, the Trump administration allowed Vice President Delcy Rodríguez to assume the presidency. Rodríguez was involved in contacts with the US through Doha last year, according to the source.
CNN has reached out to the White House for comment.
The discussions included a potential transition of power in Venezuela. Rodríguez made several visits to Qatar in 2024, including meetings with Qatari Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani. Qatar positioned itself as a mediator between Washington and Caracas at the request of both sides, the source said.
Doha has often played a mediating role between Washington and Caracas, with initial talks during the Biden administration centered on prisoner exchanges and negotiations over detained Americans in Venezuela. Following Maduro’s capture, Venezuela publicly thanked Qatar for helping seek proof of life and facilitating communication efforts between the parties involved.
The source also told CNN that a temporary bank account was established in Qatar at the request of the US government where profits from Venezuelan oil sales would be deposited. The account has since been closed.
Qatar was not informed in advance of the January 3 operation in which Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores were captured by US forces.
Since their capture, Maduro and Flores have been jailed at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn awaiting trial on drug and gun charges. Both have pleaded not guilty. The case has proceeded slowly, with the US government recently allowing the Venezuelan government to pay for the couple’s defense after a weeks-long delay.
CNN’s Max Saltman contributed reporting.
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