Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado told Newsmax on Friday that President Donald Trump’s Venezuela strategy has created an opening to turn the socialist-run nation from the “criminal hub of the Americas” into a major energy power and one of America’s strongest allies.

Appearing on Newsmax’s “The Record With Greta Van Susteren,” Machado said Venezuela’s democratic movement supports a transition plan backed by Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, arguing it could restore legitimacy, attract investment, and bring millions of Venezuelans home.

“Look, we have the opportunity to turn the criminal hub of the Americas, which is Venezuela, into the energy hub of this continent and into the strongest ally in energy, in security, in trade, in business, and democracy with the United States,” she said.

Machado said Rubio has described a three-stage plan for Venezuela that consists of “stabilization, recovery, and transition.”

“Free and fair elections are in the U.S. government plan in the third stage,” she said, adding that Venezuelans are “desperate to see a democratic change” and need certainty about when the process will move forward.

Machado confirmed that she will run for president, despite being banned from the 2024 race after winning the opposition primary in 2023 with 92% of the vote.

“Nicolas Maduro banned me from running for the elections because he knew what was going to be the result,” she said.

Machado said the Trump administration’s pressure has already produced changes that would have been unthinkable months ago, including the release of political prisoners and Venezuelan media outlets beginning to speak more openly about corruption and suffering inside the country.

She said a legitimate government would bring rule of law, protect contracts, and create conditions for major private investment.

“We will certainly not only respect the terms of legally signed contracts, but we will even improve conditions,” Machado said when asked about U.S.-Venezuela oil agreements.

She added that investors seeking “long-term relationship with Venezuela” would be able to adapt earlier conditions to new terms.

“Once you have legitimate government, then you can really invest in creating rule of law and the sanctity of contracts and international arbitration for private investments, and also the return of our people,” Machado said.

Nearly 9 million Venezuelans — about one-third of the population — have fled the country, she said, many because of economic collapse and repression.

“It’s a huge diaspora,” Machado said, before noting that a democratic transition could reverse that population collapse.

“In order to have all that potential and resources being translated into wealth, you need people,” she said.

“You need talented people. We need the Venezuelans who left to come back.”

According to Machado, Venezuelans will return home only if they know “we will have justice, we will have freedom, we will have dignity.”

Machado also warned that Venezuela’s plight is not only economic but also a security threat to the United States and the world.

“In Margarita Island, it’s known that there is a cell of Hezbollah currently operating,” Machado said.

She said Hezbollah and other Islamic extremist groups have used Venezuela as an operating base and that some have received Venezuelan documentation.

Machado said she and other democracy advocates had warned the world about the threat “for decades,” but it took “the vision, the courage, the decision of President Trump and Secretary of State Rubio to move ahead.”