CIA chief visits Maduro successor as Machado vows to become Venezuela’s president

John Ratcliffe meets Delcy Rodriguez in Caracas less than two weeks after his agents helped to oust her precedessor

The CIA chief whose agents reputedly played a key role in abducting Nicolas Maduro has flown to Venezuela to meet his successor as the sidelined opposition leader Maria Corina Machado vowed she would become the country's first elected female president.

Machado's comments were broadcast on Friday, a day after she handed her Nobel peace prize medal to Donald Trump in recognition of what she called a principled and decisive move against Maduro, who US special forces snatched on 3 January.