CARACAS, Oct 14, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - Nicolas Maduro's time is up but he can still leave power peacefully, Venezuelan Nobel Peace Prize laureate Maria Corina Machado told AFP in an interview from hiding on Monday.

Offering a barbed olive branch to Venezuela's long-lasting leader, 58-year-old Machado said President Maduro could get personal guarantees if he were to cede power peacefully.

"Maduro currently has the opportunity to move toward a peaceful transition," the opposition figurehead told AFP as a flotilla of US gunboats amassed off the coast of Venezuela.

"We are ready to offer guarantees, guarantees that we will not make public until we are sitting at that negotiation table."

"If he continues to resist, the consequences will be entirely his responsibility," she warned. But "with or without negotiation, he will leave power."

Machado admitted to still being shocked about her long-shot Nobel win last week.

"It was one of the biggest surprises of my life, and I have to admit that even today, three days later, I'm still processing it."

But she hopes to leverage that win -- and mounting pressure from the United States -- to oust a government that has been in power for more than a quarter century under Maduro and his predecessor, Hugo Chavez.

Machado said guarantees would also be offered to those who help facilitate a transition, including the military, which is vital to the regime's survival.

"This message has been sent to the entire structure of the armed forces, police, and public employees," she said. "More and more, they (military personnel) are reaching out and providing us with information."