Nobel Laureate Maria Corina Machado Returns To Venezuela After Nearly A Year In Exile

Venezuelan opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner Maria Corina Machado returned to Venezuela on Sunday, October 25, after nearly a year abroad. Her return comes amid uncertainty over US President Donald Trump’s political strategy, as Washington continues to back interim President Delcy Rodriguez instead of pushing for immediate democratic elections.

"I'm here. With you all," Machado wrote on X. She appeared at a church in western Lara state, where supporters sang the national anthem and shouted "Liberty!" as she left in an SUV. Her team said she would travel by road to Caracas.

Two people familiar with her movements told Reuters that Machado travelled by private plane from Panama to Colombia before crossing into Venezuela overland. Her team did not disclose how she managed to return. US officials had previously asked her at least once to delay her return, and she had made several unsuccessful attempts to re-enter the country.

Trump said he did not know about her return, adding, "She's a very nice woman," before reiterating that Washington was doing well in Venezuela. He has repeatedly backed Rodriguez, Maduro's former deputy, and welcomed agreements involving US companies in Venezuela's oil and business sectors. In September, he said it was too early to consider democratic elections.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio credited US-supported reconciliation talks with creating conditions for Machado's safe return. He said the negotiations had resulted in hundreds of political prisoners being freed and opposition figures returning from exile. Rubio described the process as the best opportunity in three decades to secure free and fair elections and lasting democracy.

Machado spent more than a year largely in hiding under ousted president Nicolas Maduro's government before secretly leaving Venezuela in late 2025 to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. Her movement, Vente Venezuela, is not part of negotiations between the interim government and an opposition faction, which has discussed reforms to the country's top court and electoral council.

Her foreign affairs adviser, David Smolansky, said Machado plans to meet families of political prisoners, victims of the deadly earthquakes that struck Venezuela in June, international representatives and democratic movement leaders. She will work towards securing an election date.

Machado has argued that only a democratic government can provide the stability needed to attract investors. Last month, international energy companies committed to expanding their Venezuelan projects at a ceremony attended by Rodriguez and US Energy Secretary Chris Wright.

Vente Venezuela has also launched an app to collect voter registration information from Venezuelans abroad, hoping to share the data with a reformed electoral council. Edmundo Gonzalez, the opposition's former presidential candidate now living in Spain, said he would soon join Machado in Venezuela.