After more than 10 months in exile, Venezuelan opposition leader and Nobel laureate María Corina Machado has returned to her homeland. In Venezuela, the political landscape has been reshaped by her ally, the United States, but without her involvement.
"I'm here. With you," Machado announced on X on Sunday morning shortly before other opposition members confirmed her arrival without giving details.
Former opposition presidential candidate Edmundo González Urrutia, who is currently in exile, celebrated her return, writing: "Today is a very important day for Venezuelans. Our sovereign voice returns with her to lead and guide this process!"
He added that he would soon join her in returning to the country. The opposition shared images of Machado on Sunday in Lara state, as he was welcomed by his supporters at the Santa Rosa Church.
US President Donald Trump said he was unaware of her return but hoped she was safe.
"I don't know anything about it, but I think she's a very good woman," Trump said when CNN asked about Machado's whereabouts. "She gave me the Nobel Prize, so how can I say anything else? And I hope she's well and well."
Machado left Venezuela in December for Norway to accept the Nobel Peace Prize, which she received for promoting democratic rights in her country.
A month after she left, the US ousted her rival, strongman President Nicolás Maduro, and began working with Venezuela’s acting government to lead the country toward a democratic transition and political reconciliation. The process has included several high-profile opposition figures but has excluded Machado and González Urrutia.
Machado had repeatedly vowed to return home and had hinted that he would run for president again if elections were held.
In late August, a key member of her inner circle, Omar González, returned to the country after almost three years in exile, in what he called a "prelude" to Machado's own arrival.
Machado had attempted to re-enter Venezuela seven times in recent months without success, according to her advisers.
She first tried in late June to help with reconstruction efforts after two powerful earthquakes devastated the country, but claimed the government prevented her return by closing airspace.
She tried again in late September, while Venezuela's acting president, Delcy Rodríguez, was in New York for the United Nations General Assembly, but was denied entry 3 times in a single day.
During her more than 10 months away, Machado traveled the world to gather political support from her allies, including Trump, to whom she presented the Nobel Prize.
While the Trump administration has shown support for Machado in the past, it has largely left him out of Venezuela's ongoing political transition.
After ousting Maduro in January, Trump called Machado a "very good woman" but claimed she "does not have the support or respect domestically" to be a leader.
Instead, the US has worked with Maduro's successor, Delcy Rodríguez, to implement political and economic reforms in the country. Rodríguez has met almost every demand of the Trump administration, including the release of hundreds of political prisoners and facilitating investment in the country for American companies.
In late August, Trump announced that the U.S. had reached a deal to take control of most of Venezuela's more than 65 billion barrels of proven oil reserves, a move that some see as beneficial to both the U.S. oil industry and the Venezuelan economy. Machado in a video statement questioned why the oil deal announced by Trump was being signed by the Venezuelan government, which she called an "illegal regime."
The government remained in power into 2024 after state-controlled electoral authorities declared Maduro the winner of the last presidential election, despite experts concluding that such an outcome was statistically unlikely.
Rodríguez pledged at the UN General Assembly that Venezuela will hold new elections and transition to a full democracy, which the US calls the main goal, but the incumbent government has yet to announce when the elections will take place.
Trump has repeatedly said that the country is not yet ready for elections, but has insisted that much progress has been made. ©LAPSI.al
