Venezuelan opposition leader María Machado returns home after over 10 months in exile

Venezuelan opposition leader and Nobel Peace laureate María Corina Machado has returned home after more than 10 months in exile.

“I am here. With you,” Machado wrote on X on Sunday.

Her ally and former presidential candidate Edmundo González Urrutia confirmed the news minutes later. “I am thrilled to announce to you that our leader, my dear María Corina, is on Venezuelan soil,” he posted.

Machado had repeatedly vowed to return home and hinted that she would run for president again if an election were held.

Machado had left Venezuela to accept the Nobel Peace Prize in Norway and had not returned since. A month later, the US seized her opponent, President Nicolás Maduro, in a swift military operation.

After taking away Maduro, the Trump administration then backed his deputy, Delcy Rodríguez, as leader, and she was sworn in as interim president. Rodríguez later signed an oil deal with the United States.

Machado had left Venezuela for Norway in December

Machado had left Venezuela for Norway in December to accept the Nobel Peace Prize, which she was awarded for promoting democratic rights in her country.

The US has been working with the acting Venezuelan government to steer the country toward a democratic transition and political reconciliation, but has excluded Machado and her ally Urrutia.

A key member of Machado’s inner circle, Omar González, returned to Venezuela in late August after almost three years in exile, in what he called a “prelude” to her own arrival.

Machado’s advisers said she had attempted to re-enter Venezuela seven times over the past few months without success.

Trump called Machado a “very nice woman,” but claimed she “does not have the support or the respect within the country” to be leader.

Rodríguez has met just about every demand from the Trump administration, including releasing hundreds of political prisoners and making it easier for US companies to invest in the country.

Rodríguez vowed at the UN General Assembly that Venezuela would hold new elections and transition to a full democracy, but has yet to announce when a vote will take place.