María Corina Machado released a letter addressing the Venezuelan people after leader Nicolás Maduro and his wife were captured in a U.S. operation overnight Saturday.

Machado, an opposition leader who has mostly been in hiding over the last year, said Maduro will "face international justice for the atrocious crimes committed against Venezuelans and against citizens of many other nations."

"The time for freedom has come!" Machado, who was awarded the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize, wrote in the letter posted on X.

It was not clear on Saturday if Machado, who escaped to Norway in a secret mission last month, was in Venezuela. She told CBS News in mid-December that she was "absolutely" supportive of President Trump's increasing military pressure on the Maduro regime and said she would welcome "more and more pressure so that Maduro understands that he has to go."

Read the full text of her letter, translated by CBS News, below.

María Corina Machado's letter to Venezuelans
Venezuelans, The time for freedom has come!

Nicolás Maduro from today will face international justice for the atrocious crimes committed against Venezuelans and against citizens of many other nations. Given his refusal to accept a negotiated solution, the United States government has fulfilled its promise to enforce the law.

The time has come for popular sovereignty and national sovereignty to prevail in our country. We are going to restore order, release the political prisoners, build an exceptional country, and bring our children back home.

We have fought for years, we have given it our all, and it has been worth it. What was meant to happen is happening.

This is the hour of the citizens. Those of us who risked everything for democracy on June 28th. Those of us who elected Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia as the legitimate President of Venezuela, who must immediately assume his constitutional mandate and be recognized as Commander-in-Chief of the National Armed Forces by all the officers and soldiers who comprise it.

Today we are ready to assert our mandate and take power. Let us remain vigilant, active, and organized until the democratic transition is complete. A transition that needs ALL of us.

To the Venezuelans who are currently in our country, be ready to put into action what we will be communicating to you very soon through our official channels.

To Venezuelans abroad, we need you to be mobilized, engaging the governments and citizens of the world and committing them from now on to the great operation of building the new Venezuela.

In these crucial hours, receive all my strength, my confidence, and my affection. We remain vigilant and in contact.

VENEZUELA WILL BE FREE! We go hand in hand with God, until the end.

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