Florida Rep. Mario Díaz-Balart blasted a reporter who suggested that he was not backing Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado in the wake of Nicolas Maduro’s capture.
The reporter’s question came shortly after President Trump dismissed the idea of Machado, who previously said she was dedicating her Nobel Peace Prize to him, taking the reins.
“Oh, whoa, whoa, whoa,” Díaz-Balart (R-Fla.) raged, visibly irked by the reporter’s question. “You’re talking to us? When have we ever not supported her?”
“Do not put words in my mouth,” he went on. “I will not tolerate putting words in my mouth or my colleagues’ mouths. We have been consistent from day one.”
“The next democratically elected president of Venezuela is going to be Maria Corina Machado.”
Díaz-Balart’s two GOP colleagues, Reps. Carlos Giménez (R-Fla.) and Maria Elvira Salazar (R-Fla.) nodded on in approval as he ripped into the reporter.
All three House members are Cuban-American and have been outspoken in their criticism of Maduro — whose regime is propping up the communist government of Cuba.
Earlier in the day, Saturday, Trump had publicly cast doubt on the idea of Machado leading Venezuela.
“I think it’d be very tough for her to be the leader,” Trump said during a press conference celebrating Maduro’s capture. “She doesn’t have the support or the respect within the country. She’s a very nice woman, but she doesn’t have the respect.”
Machado had won a primary in 2023 to be the opposition standard-bearer in the 2024 general election, but was barred from running by Venezuela’s government.
She fled Venezuela covertly last month ahead of the ceremony to honor her winning the Nobel Peace Prize. Machado has publicly lavished praise on Trump.
Ultimately, Edmundo González became the opposition candidate in the 2024 election, but later fled to Spain. Many critics, including the Biden administration, questioned the legitimacy of Maduro’s claim to victory in the 2024 election in Venezuela.
Following Maduro’s capture, his vice president, Delcy Rodriguez, has been serving as acting president of the South American country. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has been in contact with Rodriguez.
“No, if Maduro’s vice president — if the vice president does what we want, we won’t have to do that,” Trump told The Post when asked if the US would put troops on the ground in Venezuela.
Trump had greenlit a daring operation in the wee Saturday morning hours to capture Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, in the middle of Caracas.
The deposed, former Venezuelan leader, was then transported back to the US, where he is set to face trial for alleged drug trafficking in the coming days.
The GOP South Florida reps did a press conference Saturday to address the fallout from Maduro’s ouster. The trio, who are prominent Latino Republicans, had long been outspoken critics of the Maduro regime.
“There will be a new world order,” Giménez told reporters who were in Doral, Florida. “It will be a world order that is bounded by and guided by the principles of liberty and democracy, not tyranny, communism and socialism.”
