María Corina Machado, Venezuela’s leading opposition figure, returns home
By JULIE TURKEWITZ
Venezuela’s most popular opposition leader, María Corina Machado, has returned to her country after nearly a year in exile, according to a spokesperson.
The spokesperson, David Smolansky, in a statement, called the return “a major step toward a democratic transition and free, fair, and verifiable presidential elections in the near future.”
Machado’s efforts to return to Venezuela have been fraught with political tension in recent months. Machado, a former member of Venezuela’s Legislature, has led the opposition for the past three years, spending much of that time living in hiding inside her country, trying to avoid arrest.
She fled last year to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. Then, after the United States captured Venezuela’s autocrat, Nicolás Maduro, in January in a raid on Caracas, the Trump administration chose to elevate another member of his repressive government, Delcy Rodríguez, to the presidency.
Tensions between the Trump administration and Machado have been high since.
Machado has repeatedly promised to return to her country and push for elections, telling The New York Times in a recent interview that her homecoming would arrive “sooner than you would expect.”
In a message on the social platform X on Sunday, Machado wrote: “I am here. With you all.”
Her party also shared images of her in a church in Lara state, in the western part of the country, indicating that the photographs confirmed her arrival in Venezuela.
On Sunday after Machado’s announcement, President Donald Trump told reporters in Washington: “She’s a very nice woman. She gave me her Nobel Prize, so how can I say anything else? And I hope she’s safe, she’s a very nice woman. But we’re doing really well in Venezuela.”
Smolansky wrote in his statement: “We thank President Donald Trump, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the U.S. Government, Congress, and allied governments for their continued leadership and support.”
“Ms. Machado returns to stand with Venezuelans in their pursuit of freedom, democracy, and justice,” he added, “and to help advance a peaceful, inclusive, and sustainable transition leading to free, fair, and verifiable presidential elections, with guarantees for all.”
