WASHINGTON, United States, Jan 6, 2026 (BSS/AFP) - Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado said Monday she plans to return home "as soon as possible," and slammed the interim president in Caracas.

In her first public comments since a social media post over the weekend, when the US military forcibly removed president Nicolas Maduro from power, the Nobel Peace Prize winner vowed to return to her country.

"I'm planning to go back to Venezuela as soon as possible," Machado told broadcaster Sean Hannity on Fox News, speaking from an undisclosed location.

Machado openly rejected the country's interim president Delcy Rodriguez, saying she "is one of the main architects of torture, persecution, corruption, narcotrafficking."

Rodriguez, who has signaled her willingness to cooperate with Washington, was Venezuela's vice president under Maduro.

Machado said Rodriguez is "rejected" by the Venezuelan people, and voters were on the opposition's side.

"In free and fair elections, we will win by over 90 percent of the votes, I have no doubt about it," Machado said.

Machado also vowed to "turn Venezuela into the energy hub of the Americas" and "dismantle all these criminal structures" that have harmed her countrymen, promising to "bring millions of Venezuelans that have been forced to flee our country back home."