Washington, Jan 12 (EFE). - The president of the U.S., Donald Trump, will meet with Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado this Thursday at the White House, a U.S. administration official confirmed to EFE. The meeting comes after Trump announced last week that he planned to address the role of the Nobel Peace Prize laureate in Venezuela's future following the capture of the ousted Venezuelan president, Nicolás Maduro, and amid ongoing negotiations between Washington and the interim government in Caracas. Machado's visit also comes after the Republican ruled out the opposition leader for leading the South American country for now and instead chose to recognize the interim presidency of the chavista Delcy Rodríguez, with whom he struck a deal for the sale of millions of barrels of crude. "I'm going to have to talk to her. She could be involved in some aspect. I'm going to have to talk to her," Trump said. The president has secured a $500 billion energy deal. 31 million barrels of oil are already on their way to the U.S. Photo EFE. Trump also emphasized the work with Caracas, which Trump "hopes will continue." Machado today asked Pope Francis at the Vatican to intercede for political prisoners and for the "timely advance" of the transition to democracy in Venezuela. "I think it's very kind of her to want to come," Trump said on Friday when pressed by the media if he would change his stance on Machado if she handed him her Nobel Prize. According to reports by The Washington Post, the U.S. president decided not to include the opposition leader in his plans for Venezuela after she accepted the prestigious award, which the Republican openly coveted. Machado, who had already dedicated the Nobel to Trump upon receiving it, affirmed last Monday in an interview with the American network Fox News that she "certainly wants to give it and share it with him (Trump)," to which the Norwegian Nobel Institute explained that a Nobel Prize cannot be transferred to third parties. Trump insisted last Friday that he feels "very honored" by the visit of the Venezuelan opposition leader, which slightly contrasts with what he himself said when he questioned Machado's ability to lead Venezuela because she "has no support or respect" in the country. Asked on Monday on Fox News about the decision not to involve Machado in the government of a post-Maduro Venezuela, the White House spokesperson, Karoline Leavitt, insisted that "President Trump and his National Security team made a realistic assessment of the situation in Venezuela, and that decision turned out to be the right one." "So far, we have had the full cooperation of the Venezuelan authorities. Maduro's assets, which have been confiscated, will be sold, and that money will be deposited into an account controlled by the U.S. government," Leavitt warned. Leavitt also insisted that the Government of Rodríguez agreed to release political prisoners, "something the U.S. has long wished to see," and highlighted the work with Caracas, which Trump "hopes will continue."
