Maria Corina Machado

but she attracted huge crowds on the election campaign. Opposition parties united behind a candidate, Edmundo Gonzalez, to take her place, and afterwards they published tallies from electronic voting machines, which they said definitively showed they, not Nicolás Maduro, had won the election. She has been living in hiding ever since, but briefly travelled to Oslo last year to collect the Nobel Peace Prize. Donald Trump had made it clear he believed he should win the prize, and there was some speculation that

Since the US intervention, she has called for the release of political prisoners in Venezuela. For months she has advocated closer ties with the US and a free market, pro-business approach, including an opening up of the oil industry to foreign companies. She told Fox News her movement was ready to win a free election, but she added she had not spoken to Donald Trump since 10 October.

President Trump, though, seems to have different plans. He said the US had to fix the country before elections could be held, and has reiterated his belief the US is in charge. In reality, the Venezuelan government is still running the country, but he has threatened the new president, Delcy Rodriguez, with a worse fate than Mr Maduro, if she doesn't do, in his words, the right thing.

The regime previously thought that they could do anything.

Anything.

They felt they had absolute impunity.

Now they start to understand that this is serious and the world is really watching.

You need to raise the cost of staying in power and lowering the cost of leaving power.

Only when you do that, this regime will break down.

And that's where we are moving towards right now.

First, I want to express our infinite gratitude from my family, from an entire country, to the Norwegian Nobel Committee.

Thanks to you, the struggle of an entire people for truth, for freedom, for democracy and peace is today recognized around the world.

Thank you so much, Aisha.

My pleasure.

Of course not.

Well, first of all, because I only conceived my life in freedom and in my country, in Venezuela.

And secondly, because I believe I'm much more useful for our cause here, close to our people.

The main asset we've had during these long years is precisely the will of the people.

Fortunately, we have these technology means nowadays that I can talk to you and millions around the world and leaders around the world and convey what's going on in Venezuela from here.

And we're seeing that they are finally acting and supporting this cause.