Could Maria Corina Machado's influence wane now she's out of Venezuela?
Newshour
BBC
4.2 • 1.1K Ratings
🗓️ 11 December 2025
⏱️ 47 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The Trump administration is ramping up its efforts to derail the government of President Nicolas Maduro, which he has accused of turning Venezuela into a "drug-running regime". The leader of the country's opposition, Maria Corina Machado, travelled to Norway in secret to collect her Nobel Peace Prize. We ask if her influence could wane now that she is out of the country.
Also in the programme: intense rain is wreaking havoc on thousands of Gazans living in displacement camps; and UNESCO declares Swiss yodelling a form of Intangible Cultural Heritage.
(Photo: Nobel Peace Prize laureate Maria Corina Machado attends the opening of the official Peace Prize exhibition at the Nobel Peace Center, in Oslo. Credit: Lise Åserud / NTB)
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, podcasts. |
| 0:09.2 | Hello and welcome to NewsAour from the BBC World Service. |
| 0:12.5 | We're coming to you live from London. |
| 0:14.5 | I'm James Menendez. |
| 0:16.3 | And we're going to begin today with Venezuela. |
| 0:18.9 | The Trump administration's efforts to derail the government of |
| 0:22.0 | President Nicolas Maduro, a drug-running regime, it says, and the question of who or what would |
| 0:28.2 | replace him. Well, the person most likely to take over were he to leave the scene as the opposition |
| 0:33.1 | leader Maria Corina Machado. She was in Oslo earlier today to receive her Nobel Peace Prize in person. |
| 0:40.6 | We have an exclusive interview with her to play you in just a moment. But the honours in Norway |
| 0:45.1 | came, just as Washington was ratcheting up its campaign against the Maduro government another |
| 0:50.5 | notch. This time with the seizure of a huge oil tanker, it says, was carrying sanctioned |
| 0:56.0 | oil to Iran. The White House press secretary Caroline Levid has been giving some more details about that |
| 1:02.4 | in the past couple of hours. The United States currently has a full investigative team on the ground, |
| 1:08.7 | on the vessel and individuals on board the vessel are being |
| 1:11.7 | interviewed and any relevant evidence is being seized. With respect to the oil, that's a different |
| 1:16.4 | issue. The vessel will go to a U.S. port and the United States does intend to seize the oil. |
| 1:21.7 | However, there is a legal process for the seizure of that oil and that legal process will be followed. |
| 1:26.5 | And it's announced new sanctions against more Venezuelan ships and shipping companies |
| 1:31.8 | and those close to Mr. Maduro. Well, as for him, he was defiant as he reacted to the seizure |
| 1:39.2 | in a speech in Caracas late on Wednesday. |
| 1:46.3 | In these times, we have to be different. |
... |
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