Venezuelan opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize laureate María Corina Machado has returned to her homeland after nearly a year in exile.
She announced this today on the social platform X.
“I’m here. With you,” the politician wrote.
Estoy aquí. Con ustedes
— María Corina Machado (@MariaCorinaYA) October 25, 2026
This is her first appearance since December last year — a month before US forces removed the country’s then president, Nicolás Maduro, from power, France24 reports.
Her ally, presidential candidate Edmundo González Urrutia, who is also in exile, wrote on social media: “Venezuela! With immense joy I inform you: our leader, my dear María Corina, is on Venezuelan soil.”
He added that “very soon I will be with you and with her, so that our country truly moves towards freedom”.
At the end of 2025, Machado secretly left her South American homeland to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. According to representatives of Machado’s party, she tried to return at least seven times, but the Venezuelan authorities prevented her from doing so.
Machado’s return home comes amid growing doubts about Venezuela’s democratic future, as well as the role of the United States in it.
Venezuela’s acting president, Maduro’s former deputy Delcy Rodríguez, has remained in office longer than she was permitted to.
Machado and her allies are demanding that a date be set for the presidential election, while US officials stress that the country’s economic stabilisation must come first.
Read alsoRodríguez returned to Venezuela from the United States without any agreements in place and without an election date set