Maria Corina Machado Returns to Venezuela
Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado has returned to Venezuela after nearly a year outside the country. She announced the return on social media on Sunday, writing: “I’m here. With you all.”
Machado’s press team shared images of her in central-western Lara state, in the Plaza del Pueblo de Santa Rosa, where she appeared at a church. She did not disclose more details about her current location or how she returned.
A return that strains ties with Washington
The issue of her return has strained her relationship with the administration of United States President Donald Trump. Machado has sought to build ties with that administration as an ally since before it removed President Nicolas Maduro from power in January.
President Trump has repeatedly expressed support for interim President Delcy Rodriguez, who was Maduro’s deputy. Trump has also praised deals on oil production and other business ventures by United States companies in Venezuela. In September, Trump said it was too soon to consider democratic elections in Venezuela.
Speaking at the White House on Sunday, Trump said he did not know anything about Machado’s return. He also suggested that the United States would continue to back Rodriguez. “She’s a very nice woman,” he said, referring to Machado. “But we’re doing really well in Venezuela.”
During an interview on Fox News on Sunday, Trump said the United States had “total control of Venezuela”. He added: “We’re being very fair. But we’re taking out millions of barrels of oil a week.”
Neither the White House nor the Venezuelan communications ministry immediately responded to requests for comment.
What Machado plans to do next
Machado plans to meet victims of the deadly earthquakes that struck Venezuela in June, as well as the families of political prisoners, the international community and leaders from the democratic movement in Venezuela. Her top foreign affairs adviser, David Smolansky, set out that programme.
“She will work proactively for a date for free and fair elections,” Smolansky said. That pledge puts Machado’s return in direct tension with Trump’s September position that elections are too soon to consider, and with the interim government’s own timetable.
International energy firms committed last month to expanding projects in Venezuela, in a signing ceremony overseen by Rodriguez and United States Energy Secretary Chris Wright. Machado has said only a “serious, democratic government” can provide the stability needed by investors.
The road back: hiding, a Nobel Prize and earthquakes
Machado was barred by Maduro’s government from leaving Venezuela, but she secretly left the country in late 2025 to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. Before that departure, she had spent more than a year living mostly in hiding.
Her desire to return had caused friction in Washington. United States officials asked her to delay her trip, a news agency reported in June. Machado went ahead with the return in October, despite that request.
In June, Machado said she would do whatever it took to come home and help survivors of devastating twin earthquakes that month. Those earthquakes killed at least 6,500 people and left thousands missing. Meeting the survivors is now one of the first items on her programme in Venezuela.
A faction of the opposition and the interim government held talks this month to remake the top court and electoral council ahead of eventual elections. They do not include Machado’s movement.
Edmundo Gonzalez, a former presidential candidate for Machado’s movement who has been living in Spain, confirmed her return in his own post. He said he would soon join her.
What the return changes, and what it does not
Machado’s presence in Venezuela gives the democratic movement a visible leader inside the country for the first time in nearly a year. Her meetings with earthquake survivors and prisoners’ families will test whether she can move and organise freely, or whether the interim government restricts her.
Her return does not, on its own, change who holds power in Caracas. Rodriguez remains interim president, and Trump has made clear that Washington continues to back her. The talks on the top court and the electoral council also continue without Machado’s movement.
The next steps are practical: will Gonzalez join her, will the authorities allow her planned meetings, and will her call for election dates gain international support? The answers will show whether this return marks a new phase, or a brief homecoming.
How long was Machado outside Venezuela?
Nearly a year. She secretly left in late 2025 to receive the Nobel Peace Prize, after spending more than a year living mostly in hiding.
