OMM Newsroom
Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado has returned home nearly a year after secretly leaving the country to attend the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony in Norway.
Machado wrote on her X account on October 25: “I am here. I am with you.” Edmundo González, the opposition’s 2024 presidential candidate, also announced her return, AnewZ reports.
“Venezuela! It is with great joy that I announce that our leader, my dear María Corina, is on Venezuelan soil. Today is a very important day for Venezuelans. Our sovereign voice returns with her to lead and guide this process,” González wrote on X.
He added that he would soon meet Machado and her supporters and stand with them as the country moves toward freedom.
Machado left the country in December 2025
Machado, a representative of the right-wing opposition, secretly left Venezuela by boat in December 2025, despite a 10-year travel ban imposed by the Venezuelan authorities.
Before leaving, she had spent more than a year in hiding after being barred from running in the 2024 presidential election. Machado said at the time that then-President Nicolás Maduro had threatened her life.
Maduro was captured during a US military operation in January. He is now facing charges in the United States, including conspiracy to commit torture, narco-terrorism and drug trafficking. Maduro has pleaded not guilty.
Machado stresses importance of democratic government
US President Donald Trump has repeatedly expressed support for Maduro’s former deputy, acting President Delcy Rodríguez, and welcomed agreements involving US companies in oil production and other business ventures in Venezuela. Trump said in September that it was too early to consider democratic elections in Venezuela.
Machado said only a “serious, democratic government” could provide the stability investors need. In June, she said she would do anything to return to the country and help survivors of two powerful earthquakes that struck that month, killing at least 6,500 people and leaving thousands missing.
Machado’s desire to return caused displeasure in Washington. Reports said US officials had asked her to postpone her trip.
