Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado returns after months in exile
Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado has returned to Venezuela after more than ten months in exile, according to the BBC. A spokesman put the period at nearly a year, according to The New York Times. Machado announced her return on X on Sunday with the words "I am here. With you". Edmundo González Urrutia, a former presidential candidate and an ally of Machado, confirmed that she is on Venezuelan soil.
Machado left Venezuela in December 2025 to travel to Norway, where she accepted the Nobel Peace Prize, which she was awarded for 2025. Her departure came about a month before the United States seized Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro in January. Maduro is a political opponent of Machado.
After Maduro's seizure, the Trump administration backed Delcy Rodríguez as leader. Rodríguez, who had been Maduro's deputy, was sworn in as interim president, meaning she holds the office on a temporary basis. As interim president she signed an oil deal with the United States.
Machado's return has been tied to the question of elections. She has called for presidential elections to be held by July 2027, according to The New York Times, and has said she wants to return to Venezuela and run for president. In an interview with the same newspaper, she had said she would come back "sooner than you would expect."
Venezuela's opposition alliance reaffirmed Machado as its leader in mid-October, according to AFP and Al Jazeera. Opposition supporters held a mobilization on Thursday, October 22. Juan Pablo Guanipa said the demonstration aimed to demand Machado's return, according to Vente Venezuela.
Omar González, a member of the opposition, said Machado's return would mark a new political chapter in Venezuela. Machado has linked her return to the rebuilding of the country and to holding presidential elections, according to Vente Venezuela. Reuters reported on October 23 that the opposition movement she leads was preparing for eventual elections.
