Venezuelan opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize laureate María Corina Machado returned to Venezuela on Sunday after about 10 months abroad, greeted by tens of thousands of supporters as she traveled to Caracas. “I am here. With you,” Machado wrote on X.
She appeared at a church in the western state of Lara, where bystanders sang the national anthem and shouted “liberty!” She then made an eight-hour journey to the capital due to the crowds. As her convoy entered Caracas late Sunday, she leaned out of the sunroof to shake hands and hug supporters. “This country is giving lessons to everyone,” she shouted.
Machado’s return followed several failed attempts. Four people familiar with her trip said she flew privately from Panama to Colombia and crossed overland into Venezuela on Sunday.
A person briefed on her movements said the return was coordinated with the US, Panamanian and Colombian governments, that President Donald Trump approved it, and that US security contractors guarded her. Machado’s team has not disclosed how she returned.
Trump told reporters he did not know anything about her return. “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,” he said. “But we’re doing really well in Venezuela.”
Secretary of State Marco Rubio credited US-supported reconciliation talks. “The conditions allowing for the safe return of Ms. Machado to Venezuela are the direct result of the US-supported reconciliation talks which have already seen hundreds of political prisoners freed, and hundreds of political opposition figures return from exile,” he said. The talks, held this month between a faction of the opposition and the interim government, have not included Machado’s movement.
Machado had been barred from challenging Nicolás Maduro in the 2024 election. The US captured Maduro in January, and interim President Delcy Rodríguez, a former Maduro deputy, has since been backed by the Trump administration. Trump said in September it was too soon to consider elections.
Former presidential candidate Edmundo González said he would soon join her. “Our sovereign voice returns with her to lead and guide this process!” he wrote on X. Her top foreign affairs adviser, David Smolansky, said she plans to meet earthquake victims, families of political prisoners and democratic leaders. “She will work proactively for a date for free and fair elections,” he said.
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