Venezuela opposition leader says interim president in Iran's thrall


Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado said on Thursday that the country's interim president was an ally of US adversaries including Iran as she makes a pitch for US backing in the wake of its capture of President Nicolas Maduro.
"I want to insist that Delcy Rodriguez, yes, she's a communist. She's the main ally and representation of the Russian regime, the Chinese and Iranians. But that's not the Venezuelan people," she told a gathering at the conservative Heritage Foundation think tank in Washington DC.
Rodriguez gave her recently-awarded Nobel Peace Prize to President Trump on Wednesday but CIA chief John Ratcliffe met with Rodriguez in Caracas on Thursday as the US administration says Venezuela is cooperating with its policies there.
"I always insist in the difference between Venezuela today compared to Middle East countries that went through change in governmental regimes," Machado added.
"We're talking about a society that is perhaps the most cohesive in the region, I would dare to say, even in the world ... There are not religious tensions between the Venezuelan society or racial or regional or political or social."