Machado Returns to Venezuela After Nearly a Year in Exile, Drawing Large Crowds

Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado returned to the country on Sunday after more than 10 months abroad, first appearing at a church in Lara state before traveling by car toward Caracas as crowds lined routes and chanted for liberty.

Machado, the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize laureate, posted on X: “I’m here. With you.” She left Venezuela in December 2025 to receive the prize after nearly a year in hiding following the disputed 2024 election. Her party, Vente Venezuela, and ally Edmundo González confirmed the arrival. Videos and photos showed her at the Sanctuary of the Divine Shepherdess in Barquisimeto, greeting supporters who sang the national anthem.

The journey to Caracas took hours because of crowds. Reuters and AFP reported she entered via Colombia after coordination involving the United States, Panama, and Colombia; sources said President Trump approved the return and was kept informed, with U.S. security contractors providing protection and warnings issued to interim authorities not to interfere.

At the White House, Trump told reporters he did not know details but hoped she was safe and called her “a very nice woman.” Secretary of State Marco Rubio stated on X that her safe return was “the direct result of the U.S. supported reconciliation talks which has already seen hundreds of political prisoners freed and hundreds of political opposition figures return from exile.”

Machado’s return comes after a U.S. military operation earlier this year that captured Nicolás Maduro and installed Delcy Rodríguez as interim president. No new election date has been set. Polls cited in reporting showed Machado with high positive ratings and leading Rodríguez in hypothetical matchups. Her arrival injects a prominent opposition figure into the ongoing transition process.

The White House and State Department have prioritized economic stability, oil-sector rebuilding, and gradual political opening while working with the interim government. Machado’s public reappearance tests that framework and the security arrangements that enabled her entry.