Maria Alexandra Machado moved to St. Louis several months ago from Florida to be closer to her mom and sister, after fleeing political persecution in Venezuela under Nicolás Maduro's regime in 2017.
A native of Venezuela's capital Caracas, Machado is the daughter of a former military intelligence director in Venezuela, Rafael Arturo Machado, who died in St. Louis last month after he was exiled from the country several years ago for opposing the regime. Machado, no relation to Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, has been receiving help through the Move2STL initiative at the International Institute in St. Louis. She said she initially came to the U.S. to visit family, but as political persecutions ran high in her hometown, she never returned. She said her friends back home advised her that the Maduro regime had started taking their passports and identity cards at the time, so she stayed in the U.S.
Maduro and his wife were captured on Jan. 3 during a U.S. military raid on their compound in Caracas, an operation dubbed "Operation Absolute Resolve." Meanwhile, a new interim president, Delcy Rodríguez, has been sworn in in Venezuela, which remains largely under the control of Maduro loyalists. Maduro appointed Rodríguez vice president in 2018.
Many Venezuelans have described Maduro as a "narco-terrorist" and believe his removal was justified due to years of abuse of power. Meanwhile, socialist groups across the country, including St. Louis, have been holding protests against Trump's actions.
The Trump administration recently stated it is safe for Venezuelans in the U.S. with temporary protected status to go back to their country. The administration ended the program for thousands of Venezuelans last year, saying at the time that conditions in the country had improved.
But Machado says the country is riddled with election tampering, propaganda, severe poverty and civil rights abuse.
"The thing is that when you don't feel safe to even speak up your mind, and even the government officials are against you, you're not safe anymore," Machado said. "I hope that it doesn't take, like, 10 more years to complete this process. I hope that (it) is going to be a transition, and I truly thank anyone who can solidarize with us."
The Department of State this week advised U.S. citizens against traveling to Venezuela due to risks that include "wrongful detention, torture in detention, terrorism, kidnapping, arbitrary enforcement of local laws, crime, civil unrest, and poor health infrastructure," NPR reported.
Machado sat down with STLPR reporter Lacretia Wimbley and talked about dangerous circumstances in Venezuela. She says she's thankful Maduro was captured, and that as political tensions rise in the South American country, her family is quietly surviving.
This interview has been edited for conciseness and clarity.
Maria Alexandra Machado: I feel that the world sometimes don't understand, like, what we have been going through. In the years of the Maduro and Chávez regime, me, personally, I was attempted to be robbed or killed more than seven times. I was kidnapped once. My daughter was kidnapped once. I mean, do you guys know what it feels like to be pointed at with a gun and that happening like more than five times in your life? Do you think that's normal? Does anyone think that's normal? It's not normal.
Lacretia Wimbley: Would you mind sharing a little bit about what happened when you were kidnapped?
Machado: The guy that kidnapped us, he was driving like 100 miles per hour, and he was about to crash into a truck, and with this heavenly protection, I stood up, I went over, like above this guy, and I took the steering wheel. I actually drove the car, and I felt this huge strength, like, at the end, they let us go. So that's a miracle, and I think that faith is what keeps my people together. And what has kept together most of our families in this horrible 27 years of dictatorship that we have gone through.
Wimbley: You've been in the U.S. since 2017 and in St. Louis for a few months. Any plans on going back to Venezuela anytime soon?
Machado: I don't even have a valid passport anymore. So I will have to start by that. So it's really bad. They [Maduro's government] even canceled the passports for people that were opposed to the regime. I mean, I had to give away my house, so basically, I have nothing to go back to.
Wimbley: Some people are critical that President Trump led the U.S. to invade Venezuela to capture Maduro. And others say it was necessary. What is your take on the nuance and the different perspectives?
Machado: I understand that people can be confused about why the Trump administration would act in this way. Because my father educated me in those matters, (I understand) there are some strategies that have to be kept confidential. There was no way to discuss that in public or in Congress without Maduro's regime being aware, and then none of this would have been possible. I don't agree with some of the things that happen to people here in this country. Like, not everyone is a criminal, not everyone is guilty or something. In Venezuela, they throw people in the Helicoide, which is a horrible jail in the middle of Caracas. They don't give them food. They put them like with cockroaches, and they throw water on them. It's horrible.
Wimbley: So you still have family over in Venezuela. Do you keep in contact with them?
Machado: Yes.
Wimbley: Ok, how are they doing?
Machado: Well, they are happily in silence because they cannot even manifest that they're happy because they took Maduro out. But they are there, contained and, you know, surviving, that's all I can say.
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