Venezuela’s Nobel Peace Prize winning opposition leader has said her country has “has already been invaded”, when asked whether she would support a US invasion.
Speaking at a news conference in Oslo after being awarded the famous prize, Maria Corina Machado replied: “Look, some people talk about invasion in Venezuela and the threat of an invasion in Venezuela and I answered Venezuela has been already invaded.
“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.
“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. This has turned Venezuela into the criminal hub of the Americas.”
The 58-year-old engineer continued: “Where do those funds come from? Well, from drug trafficking, from the black market of oil, from arms trafficking, and from human trafficking. We need to cut those flows.”
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Ms Machado made her return to the public eye in the early hours of Wednesday morning from the balcony of the Norwegian capital’s Grand Hotel, after covertly travelling to Oslo to receive the Nobel Peace Prize.
She didn’t make it to Oslo in time to receive the Nobel Peace Prize in person, after an extraordinary day shrouded in uncertainty over her whereabouts.
It was accepted on her behalf by her daughter Ana Corina Sosa.
The opposition leader has dedicated her prize in part to US President Donald Trump, who has said he himself deserved the honour.
Ms Machado has aligned herself with hawks close to Trump who argue that Venezuela’s president Nicolas Maduro has links to criminal gangs that pose a direct threat to US national security, despite doubts raised by the US intelligence community.
