Dan Wakin

This is The Opinions, a show that brings you a mix of voices from New York Times Opinion.

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I'm Dan Waken, an international editor for New York Times Opinion.

Since America's recent military attack on Venezuela and the arrest of its leader, Nicolás Maduro, the long-term leadership of the country is unclear.

President Trump has said the U.S.

will run it, suggesting the arrangement could last for years.

Meanwhile, Maduro's government is largely intact, and the opposition movement, now mostly in hiding or in exile, is sidelined from the action.

Trump is scheduled to meet this week with opposition leader Maria Corina Machado.

My guest today is Francisco Rodriguez, a Venezuelan economist at the University of Denver who has worked in the Venezuelan National Assembly.

He recently wrote a guest essay for Times Opinion arguing that Machado is not the right person to restore the country at this moment.

I'm curious.

If not her, then who?

What comes next?

I should say we're recording on Monday morning and events are evolving.

Francisco, welcome.

Francisco, what is the state of the opposition in Venezuela right now?

Or even, would it be questioned as a betrayal of the opposition cause for Machado to cozy up so much to Trump to curry such favor with him when his whole strategy is not to overturn the regime, not to change the government, to keep the vice president in power?

Well, correct me if I'm wrong, but it sounds like you're saying that Machado's future in Venezuelan politics completely depends on what Donald Trump decides.

Yeah, I guess you pointed out that previously when there was an opposition leader named President Xi had urged him to call for international intervention.