Trump’s betrayal of Maria Corina Machado won’t end well

The abrupt mid-air termination of Maria Corina Machado’s flight back to Venezuela early this month marks a stark contradiction between U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s visionary rhetoric  and the cruelty of Donald Trump’s realpolitik. 

Machado, Venezuela’s most revered opposition leader, had intended to bring urgently needed comfort and leadership to her earthquake-stricken homeland. Though her inner circle believed her journey carried approval from the Trump administration, the operation was neutralized when U.S. officials ordered her private jet to turn around in mid-flight over North Carolina.  

In a shocking betrayal, the Trump administration left Machado blindsided, exposing a contradiction in the U.S.-led Venezuela transition between the opposition’s urgent timeline and Washington’s embrace of the status quo.

This pivot mirrors the darkest chapters of the Iraq occupation, where soaring promises of democracy-building quickly dissolved into a race for petroleum resources. In both cases, the U.S. instrumentalized the agony of a battered population to justify intervention, only to abandon its moral obligations once economic interests took precedence.  

At least in U.S.-occupied Iraq, elections were set and the underpinnings of democratic institutions formed. But while many within the U.S.-Venezuela transition team shared a sincere vision for a new democratically led Venezuela, it’s starting to look like rebuilding Venezuela’s democratic institutions was never part of Trump’s plan.

Following the Jan. 3 abduction of Nicolas Maduro, Venezuelans — including Machado, who gifted her Nobel Peace Prize medal to Trump — hitched their hopes for freedom from 25 years of Chavismo on the perceived........

© The Hill