Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado said she and fellow candidate Edmundo González are poised to lead the country now that “the hour of freedom has arrived” — but President Trump said ousted dictator Nicolas Maduro’s second in command could take the job and make the embattled nation “great again.”

Machado and González, whose 2024 victory against Maduro was ignored by the dictator, are vying to “immediately” lead the transitional government in the South American country.

“Today we are prepared to enforce our mandate and take power,” Machado said in her first public comments Saturday.

Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado says she and opposition candidate Edmundo González are  poised to lead the country. ZUMAPRESS.com

“We are going to restore order, release the political prisoners, build an exceptional country, and bring our children back home.”

But President Trump surprisingly said during his press conference Saturday that Machado “doesn’t have the support within or the respect within the country” to become its next leader.

He indicated that spoke with Vice President Delcy Rodríguez — who is to assume power after Maduro’s arrest as per the Venezuelan constitution — and that she reassured her willingness “to do what’s necessary to make Venezuela great again.

Rodriguez reportedly fled to Russia, but the country’s foreign ministry denied she was there.

Trump declared that the US would now take over running Venezuela after strongman Nicolas Maduro was captured “in the dead of night.”

“We’re going to run the country until such time as we can do a safe, proper and judicious transition,” Trump said at a press conference from his Mar-a-Lago resort as he provided new details on the stunning military operation.

Maria Corina Machado won the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize. AFP via Getty Images

“We’re going to run it, essentially” through the transition, he said.

Earlier in the day, the president said the US guidance would be to prevent another dictator from “[taking] over where he left.”

Experts, however, theorize that Machado and her movement are best poised for the takeover.

Here’s the latest on Nicolás Maduro’s capture:

“They have the support of 70% of Venezuelans,” Jorge Jraissati, president of the Economic Inclusion Group, told Fox News Digital. “They would lead this transition period.”

The US previously recognized González as the country’s legitimate leader after he defeated Maduro by a more than 2-to-1 margin in the 2024 election. González ran in place of Machado after she was banned from running by the Maduro-run high court. Maduro ignored the election results and remained in power.

Machado celebrated Maduro’s capture Saturday.

Nicolás Maduro speaks during a military ceremony commemorating the 200th anniversary of the Venezuelan independence hero Simon Bolivar’s ‘Sword of Peru’ on November 25, 2025, in Caracas, Getty Images

“The time has come for popular sovereignty and national sovereignty to govern our country. We will restore order, free the political prisoners, build an exceptional country, and bring our children back home,” Machado wrote in a statement.

“We have fought for years, we have given everything, and it has been worth it. What had to happen is happening.”

Machado, who won the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize for her political advocacy, thanked the US for fulfilling its “promise to uphold the law.”

A column of smoke rises during multiple explosions in the early hours of the morning, in Caracas on Jan. 3, 2025. via REUTERS

The opposition leader has been a strong ally of President Trump’s — most recently publicly lauding his recent seizure of a vessel transporting oil out of her home country as part of his plan to oust Maduro.

She even dedicated her Nobel Peace Prize to Trump after being named the 2025 winner in October.

Machado was picked for the award for her efforts to advance democracy “in the face of ever-expanding authoritarianism in Venezuela” despite serious threats to her life.

She has been in hiding since the summer of 2024 when Maduro claimed victory for his third term in the highly contested election.

In the months before Maduro’s arrest, Machado indicated that her movement was prepared to take territorial and administrative control of Venezuela.