Venezuelan opposition leader questions US oil deal with ‘illegitimate regime’

María Corina Machado says interim government does not have democratic mandate to negotiate natural resources The Venezuelan opposition leader, María Corina Machado, has questioned Donald Trump’s oil deal with Venezuela’s interim government, declaring that the country’s natural resources do not belong to “an illegitimate regime”. In her first public comments since Trump announced what he called “the biggest oil deal in world history” with Venezuela last Friday, Machado walked a diplomatic tightrope between challenging the controversial agreement and trying not to rile the White House.