María Corina Machado returns to Venezuela after more than 10 months away
Opposition leader María Corina Machado appeared in Lara state after returning to Venezuela, where no election had been scheduled.
By Georgia Hale · Staff Writer
2 min read
María Corina Machado returns to Venezuela after more than 10 months abroad, appearing Sunday at a church in the western state of Lara as supporters gathered around her.
Machado announced her arrival in a post on X, writing, “I am here. With you.” Opposition figure Edmundo González Urrutia, who is living in Spain, also confirmed her return and said he expected to join her in Venezuela soon, according to NPR and The Associated Press.
Images released by Machado’s team showed her at the Church of Santa Rosa in Lara state. Reuters reported that people at the church sang the national anthem and shouted “liberty” as she left in an SUV.
Why did María Corina Machado return to Venezuela?
Machado and her advisers have presented the return as part of an effort to press for a political transition and free, fair elections. Her foreign-affairs adviser, David Smolansky, told Reuters that she planned to meet people affected by June’s earthquakes, families of political prisoners, international representatives and Venezuelan democratic leaders.
Her return lands in a political situation still without a settled electoral path. Delcy Rodríguez is serving as interim president following Nicolás Maduro’s January ouster, according to AP. No election had been scheduled, according to AP.
Reuters reported that talks between an opposition faction and the interim government have sought changes to institutions including the top court and electoral council before eventual elections. Machado’s Vente Venezuela movement is not part of those discussions.
A return after failed attempts
Machado left Venezuela in late 2025 to receive the Nobel Peace Prize in Norway, Reuters and CNN reported. She had spent much of the preceding year in hiding, Reuters said.
Her advisers said she had made several unsuccessful efforts to return before Sunday. Reuters reported that her team did not disclose how she got back; two people with knowledge of the matter told the news agency that she traveled by private plane from Panama to Colombia, then crossed into Venezuela by land.
President Donald Trump said Sunday that he did not know about Machado’s return and hoped she would be safe. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement reported by Reuters that the conditions for her safe return resulted from U.S.-supported reconciliation talks, while calling on political actors to support those talks.
Machado’s return confirms she is back in the country. Whether that changes the talks or produces an election timetable remains unresolved in the reporting so far.
This story draws on original reporting from NBC News.