The president-elect issued the message after reports surfaced that Maria Corina Machado, the head of Venezuela’s opposition party and fierce critic of the South American country’s president, had been detained by Maduro’s regime. Machado was in hiding in Venezuela but made her first public appearance in weeks to lead demonstrations protesting Maduro’s presidential inauguration scheduled for January 10.

Machado’s aides said she was “violently intercepted” after leaving a protest on Thursday and detained, according to reports. Trump gave the warning through a post on his Truth Social account.

“Venezuelan democracy activist Maria Corina Machado and President-elect Gonzalez are peacefully expressing the voices and the WILL of the Venezuelan people with hundreds of thousands of people demonstrating against the regime,” Trump said. “The great Venezuelan American community in the United States overwhelmingly support a free Venezuela, and strongly supported me. These freedom fighters should not be harmed, and MUST stay SAFE and ALIVE!”

Machado later posted on X that she was free and in a “safe place.”

“I am now in a safe place and more determined than ever before to continue with you UNTIL THE END!” Machado said in a translated post from X. “Tomorrow I will tell you what happened today and what is coming. Venezuela will be FREE! GLORY TO THE BRAVE PEOPLE!”

Maduro supposedly won reelection to Venezuela’s presidency on July 28, 2024, besting opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez. However, the election was heavily scrutinized, with many believing that Gonzalez was the true victor and that the actual results were hidden by Maduro loyalists in Venezuela’s government. The opposition party allegedly provided evidence Gonzalez won, showing voter tallies, but Venezuelan authorities rejected the claims. Instead, the country’s National Electoral Council declared Maduro the winner. 

Since then, Maduro has cracked down on political dissension in the country. Numerous protesters were reportedly jailed for participating in demonstrations against the administration. As mentioned above, Machado was forced into hiding, while Gonzalez had to flee Venezuela and sought asylum in Spain. Gonzalez claimed he would return to his country on January 10 to be inaugurated as president, but that does not appear to be the case. 

Speaker Mike Johnson met with Gonzalez this week to discuss the political turmoil in Venezuela and recognized Gonzalez as the country’s president and leader.  

“It was an honor to meet with the only legitimate leader of Venezuela, Edmundo González,” Johnson said in a statement. “We had a productive conversation about the need to restore Venezuela’s democratic voice, and the threat the illegitimate Maduro regime poses to the region and all those seeking freedom.”

Johnson suggested a pivot in foreign policy with Venezuela and expressed enthusiasm to work with President-elect Trump in supporting “democracy in Venezuela.”

“The United States must return to a maximum-pressure campaign that leaves no recourse but for power to be returned to the Venezuelan people and its legitimate leaders, such as Edmundo González and María Machado,” Johnson said. “I am eager to begin working with the incoming Trump administration to confront all those who terrorize and intimidate the people of Venezuela, and ensure Congress is ready to support democracy in Venezuela and uphold America’s interests in the region.”