Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado returns after 10-month exile

After almost a year away, Venezuelan opposition figure Maria Corina Machado has returned to her home country following a series of unsuccessful attempts that strained her relationship with US President Donald Trump’s administration.

“I’m here. With you all,” the Nobel Peace Prize-winner posted on X on Sunday.

Footage shared by her press team showed her appearing at a church in the western state of Lara, where bystanders gathered to sing the national anthem and shout “liberty!” as she departed in an SUV, according to a Reuters witness.

Her staff stated she will travel overland to Caracas.

Her attempts to re-enter the country have tested relations with the Trump administration, which she sought to cultivate as an ally prior to the removal of President Nicolas Maduro from power in January.

U.S. officials had asked her at least once to postpone her return, Reuters reported in June, following several failed entry efforts. While her team did not reveal the details of her journey, two people with knowledge of the matter said she took a private flight from Panama to Colombia before crossing overland into Venezuela.

Trump has consistently backed interim President Delcy Rodriguez, the former deputy to ousted President Nicolas Maduro, while praising business ventures and oil production agreements made by US firms in the country.

In September, Trump remarked that it was too soon to discuss democratic elections in Venezuela.

At the White House on Sunday, Trump stated he was unaware of Machado’s arrival and suggested Washington would maintain its support for Rodriguez.

“She’s a very nice woman,” he said of Machado. “But we’re doing really well in Venezuela.”

In a statement regarding her return, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said: “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.”

Rubio added: “We expect all political actors to support these talks which represent the best chance Venezuela has had in thirty years to peacefully achieve not just a free and fair election but an enduring democracy.”

A faction of the opposition and the interim administration held their latest negotiation session this month to restructure the supreme court and electoral council ahead of future votes.

Machado’s movement is not included in these talks. Venezuela’s communications ministry did not immediately reply to requests for comment.

“Maria Corina Machado will achieve liberty and democracy in Venezuela,” said 69-year-old Hernan Adames, who celebrated alongside other supporters in Barquisimeto.

Machado’s top foreign affairs adviser, David Smolansky, told Reuters that she plans to meet with families of political prisoners, victims of the fatal earthquakes that struck Venezuela in June, international delegates, and leaders of the country’s democratic movement.

“She will work proactively for a date for free and fair elections,” Smolansky added.

International energy companies committed last month to expanding operations in Venezuela during a ceremony overseen by Rodriguez and US Energy Secretary Chris Wright. Machado has maintained that only a “serious, democratic government” can offer the stability required by investors.

Machado was previously banned from exiting Venezuela by Maduro’s government but secretly left in late 2025 to collect the Nobel Peace Prize after over a year in hiding.

On Saturday, her Vente Venezuela movement launched a mobile application to gather voter registration details from Venezuelans living abroad. The team behind the app—built over 18 months by 15 staff members—hopes to share the data with a reformed electoral council to officially register users.

Edmundo Gonzalez, a former presidential candidate from Machado’s movement currently living in Spain, stated on X that he would join her in Venezuela soon.