Venezuelan opposition leader questions US oil deal with ‘illegitimate regime’
María Corina Machado has questioned Donald Trump’s oil deal with Venezuela’s interim government, saying the country’s natural resources do not belong to what she called “an illegitimate regime.” Her comments were the first public response identified in the supplied report since Trump announced the agreement last Friday, describing it as “the biggest oil deal in world history.”
Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado has questioned Donald Trump’s oil deal with Venezuela’s interim government.
Machado said the interim government did not have a democratic mandate to negotiate the country’s natural resources and declared that those resources did not belong to “an illegitimate regime.”
The comments were her first public remarks identified in the report since Trump announced the agreement last Friday. The report said Machado sought to challenge the deal while avoiding a confrontation with the White House.
THE QUESTIONS THIS EVENT LEAVES BEHIND
What democratic mandate does Machado believe the interim government lacks?
What terms of the oil agreement were made public?
Who has authority to negotiate Venezuela’s natural resources under the interim government?
How could Machado’s criticism affect relations with the White House?
What conditions would change Machado’s assessment of the agreement?
YOUR QUESTION
Does this story leave you with another question?
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GLOBAL CURIOSITY MAP · AUGUST 2026