Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado, recipient of the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize, has pledged to relocate Venezuela’s embassy in Israel to Jerusalem if she assumes power, marking a historic break from the country’s long-standing foreign policy under Nicolás Maduro.
Machado said the move would position Venezuela as Israel’s closest ally in Latin America, reversing nearly two decades of hostility between Caracas and Tel Aviv. The Maduro government severed diplomatic relations with Israel in 2009 during the Gaza conflict and has since maintained a strongly pro-Palestinian stance.
Her party, Vente Venezuela, took a decisive step in that direction in 2020 when it signed a strategic cooperation agreement with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party, formally establishing political ties between the two movements.
Machado has been openly supportive of Israel, especially following the events of October 7, repeatedly criticizing the Maduro administration’s foreign policy alignment.
In the aftermath of the U.S. military operation that resulted in Maduro’s capture, Machado’s possible rise to power is now viewed as a turning point that could dramatically reshape Venezuela’s diplomatic orientation in the Middle East and alter its regional alliances.
