Nobel Laureate Venezuelan Dissident Delivers a Stinging Rebuke to Democrats: “The Hour of Freedom Has Arrived”

Democrats who rushed to condemn President Donald Trump for removing a foreign dictator are now confronting an inconvenient truth: their reflexive opposition has collapsed under the weight of reality.

That reality came from one of the most credible moral voices in the Western Hemisphere — Nobel Peace Prize laureate María Corina Machado, the Venezuelan opposition leader who risked her life standing up to socialist strongman Nicolás Maduro.

Following President Trump’s decisive operation to capture Maduro in a swift weekend raid, Machado publicly celebrated the dictator’s downfall, delivering a moment of clarity that exposed just how detached the American left has become from genuine democratic values.

As CBS News reported, Machado — who was forced to flee Venezuela to safely receive her Nobel Prize in Norway last month — released a statement on X marking a turning point in her nation’s history.

Her message carried a powerful headline in Spanish: “Venezuelans, the hour of freedom has arrived.”

According to CBS News’ translation, the substance of her statement was even more striking.

“Nicolás Maduro from today will face international justice for the atrocious crimes committed against Venezuelans and against citizens of many other nations,” Machado wrote. “Given his refusal to accept a negotiated solution, the United States government has fulfilled its promise to enforce the law.”

Her words mirrored the position articulated by Vice President J.D. Vance, who had earlier explained that the Trump administration offered Maduro multiple diplomatic off-ramps before acting. The outcome, Vance emphasized, was not aggression — it was accountability.

For Democrats already struggling to defend their criticism, Machado’s statement only grew more devastating.

“The time has come for popular sovereignty and national sovereignty to prevail in our country. We are going to restore order, release the political prisoners, build an exceptional country, and bring our children back home,” Machado wrote.

For years, Democrats have cast themselves as guardians of democracy. Yet when that ideal conflicts with opposition to President Trump, many appear willing to excuse or downplay the brutality of a socialist dictatorship.

Maduro’s grip on power was sustained by fraudulent elections, including the 2024 contest he absurdly claimed to win — despite exit polls showing the opposition capturing roughly 70 percent of the vote, as reported by USA Today.

Machado’s call for “popular sovereignty” was not rhetorical. It was a demand for real democracy — something now within reach precisely because President Trump chose decisive action over endless negotiation.

Her stance should not surprise anyone paying attention. When Machado received the Nobel Peace Prize, she publicly expressed gratitude toward Trump, signaling her support for his high-pressure approach to confronting Maduro’s regime.

As CBS News noted, it remains unclear whether Machado was physically in Venezuela during Saturday’s operation. What is clear, however, is how dramatically her response undercuts the American left’s talking points.

In a statement on X, socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders attempted to straddle the fence — acknowledging Maduro’s regime was “corrupt and brutal,” while still insisting that Trump’s action made “the United States and the world less safe.”

Machado’s message stands as a direct refutation of that claim.

Other Democrats were even less restrained. Arizona Sen. Ruben Gallego labeled the operation an “illegal war,” while Massachusetts Rep. Jim McGovern implied that removing a hemispheric tyrant somehow betrayed Democratic priorities like health care spending.

Machado’s response reduced those arguments to empty slogans.

What her statement did was restore perspective. Politics will always involve disagreement, and no administration is without flaws. But ideological blindness — especially when fueled by years of Trump hatred — has led Democrats to deny even the possibility that their opponent could act in the moral interest of freedom.

Dismantling the criminal regime in Caracas was a net good: for Venezuela, for the United States, and for the wider world.

And that judgment now carries the moral authority of the world’s most recent Nobel Peace Prize recipient.

For Democrats, the verdict is unavoidable — and deeply humiliating. And it is entirely self-inflicted.