Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado has travelled to Washington, DC, to meet with United States President Donald Trump at the White House, following the abduction of her political adversary, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.Thursday’s meeting was the first time the two leaders encountered one another face-to-face.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemsend of listBut the visit was an unusually subdued one for Trump, who normally welcomes foreign leaders to the Oval Office for a news conference with reporters.This time, however, Trump kept his meeting with Machado private, away from clicking camera shutters and shouted questions from reporters.Trump has backed Maduro’s former vice president, Delcy Rodriguez, as interim leader of the South American country, despite Machado’s claims that the opposition has a mandate to govern.Rodriguez’s inaugural state of the union address as president coincided with Machado’s arrival at the White House, a fact that could have contributed to the low-key nature of the meeting.“We are used to seeing the president ushering in the cameras, making comments, talking away,” Al Jazeera correspondent Mike Hanna reported as evening fell in the capital.“But on this particular occasion, [the meeting] was held behind closed doors. In fact, we haven’t even had a formal readout from the White House of that meeting with Machado.”Still, Machado struck an upbeat tone as she exited the White House and strolled onto P …
