Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado returned to Venezuela on Sunday after more than 10 months in exile, announcing her arrival on X with the words "I am here. With you."1,4,6,7
Other members of the opposition confirmed her arrival shortly afterward but did not provide details. Machado left Venezuela in December to accept the Nobel Peace Prize in Norway, and a month later the United States removed her rival, President Nicolás Maduro, from power. The transition that followed has excluded Machado and her ally, former presidential candidate Edmundo González Urrutia, who remains in exile.1,6
González Urrutia celebrated her return in a statement. "Today is a very important day for Venezuelans. Our sovereign voice returns with her to lead and guide this process!" he said, adding that he will soon join her in the country.1,6
The opposition shared images of Machado on Sunday attending Mass at the Church of Santa Rosa in Lara state, where supporters hugged her and clasped her hands. France 24 identified the church as being in Barquisimeto.1,4,6
Trump said he did not know about her return but hoped she was safe. Asked by CNN's Julia Benbrook about Machado's whereabouts, he said, "I don't know anything about it, but I think she's a very nice woman. She gave me her Nobel Prize, so how can I say anything else? And I hope she's safe." Machado gave her Nobel Prize to Trump at the White House in January, according to the BBC.1,6
Dinorah Figuera, who has led the opposition bloc's negotiations with the government, said Machado's return was a result of Maduro's ouster and the ongoing reconciliation talks. Secretary of State Marco Rubio praised the US role in a post on X. "The conditions allowing for the safe return of Ms Machado to Venezuela is the direct result of the US supported reconciliation talks which has already seen hundreds of political prisoners freed and hundreds of political opposition figures return from exile," he wrote.1,6
Her return followed repeated attempts. According to her advisers, Machado tried seven times in recent months to re-enter the country without success. She first tried in late June, after two powerful earthquakes devastated the country, and claimed the government thwarted her by closing its airspace. In late September, while acting President Delcy Rodríguez was in New York for the United Nations General Assembly, she was denied entry three times in a single day. There have been reports that the US was involved in delaying her return, which Washington has denied, the BBC reported.1,6
The government that remains in place is led by Rodríguez, who was sworn in as interim president after Maduro's removal. Maduro is jailed in New York, where he faces drugs, weapons and torture charges. He has pleaded not guilty.6,1
Machado won an independent presidential primary in 2023 with more than 90% of the vote, but Maduro's government barred her from running, accusing her of fraud and tax violations. She denied the allegations, calling them politically motivated. Her ally González ran in her place in 2024. The government-aligned electoral authority declared Maduro the winner without making detailed voting tallies public, while the opposition argued that González had won and uploaded copies of the tallies as evidence. Experts cited by CNN concluded that such a result was statistically improbable.6,1
Accounts of how Machado left the country in December also differ. France 24 said she covertly left Venezuela, and the BBC described a speedboat departure under cover of darkness. The Hill, in a description of its story, said she left the country under the protection of a U.S. rescue team.4,6,7
Trump has said the country is not ready for elections yet, while Rodríguez vowed at the United Nations General Assembly last month that Venezuela would hold new elections and move to full democracy. The acting government has not announced a date for a vote. Machado has said she would run for president again if an election were held, and it is unclear what she plans to do now that she is back. In late August, Trump announced an agreement for the US to take majority control of more than 65 billion barrels of proven oil reserves in Venezuela. Machado questioned in a video statement why the Venezuelan government was signing the deal, calling it an "illegitimate regime."1,6
A spokesman for Machado, David Smolansky, called her return "a major step toward a democratic transition and free, fair, and verifiable presidential elections in the near future." He also thanked Trump, Rubio, the US government, Congress and allied governments for their support.6
