The White House seems to be working with the remnants of the Maduro regime after Saturday's raid.

But for decades, there's been robust opposition to the governments of Hugo Chavez and his successor, Nicolas Maduro.

Among the principal leaders of that opposition now is Nobel Peace Prize winner Maria Carino Machado.

And one of her top aides is David Smolanski, who joins me here in the studio. Thank you for being here. Thank you for having me. So as you saw in our report there, obviously Maduro's former vice president, Delti Rodriguez, has now been sworn in as acting president. You heard President Trump also say, we, meaning the U.S. are in charge of Venezuela. Is it clear to you who is running the country right now?

Rodriguez or President Trump?

Well, first of all, I have to say that what we are seeing today in New York is something

that Venezuelans wanted for years.

Nine of them Venezuelans wanted Maduro not only out of power, but to face

justice. I have to say that this country is guaranteed rights to Maduro and his wife,

like for example having an attorney, something that Maduro never did. Maduro illegally

detained 20,000 innocent Venezuelans

during the last decade, and most of them

were physically, tortured psychologically,

torture didn't have a right for a tourney

or a family visit or something.

So I wanted to start with that,

and I think the operation that happened in my country in January 3rd was clean, was smooth, was fast, and the vast majority of Venezuelans are grateful with President Trump and the US administration about this operation.

You're glad they took that step.

Yeah, definitely. It's a huge step.

Specifically on your question.

Yes.

Every transition at the beginning is messy.

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