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Venezuela’s leading opposition figure, Nobel Peace Prize laureate Maria Corina Machado, has been prevented from returning to the country as interim President Delcy Rodriguez prepared to address world leaders at the UN General Assembly in New York, according to Machado’s international relations coordinator.
Pedro Urruchurtu said on the social media platform “X” on Wednesday that Machado had made three unsuccessful attempts to travel from Panama by sea and air in less than 24 hours. Aviation authorities in nearby transit points, including Aruba and Curacao, reportedly denied landing permission to her flights.
“Maria Corina is being prevented from returning to Venezuela,” Urruchurtu wrote, adding that the latest attempts brought the total number of failed efforts in recent weeks to seven.
Machado’s daughter accepts leadership award
Machado’s daughter, Ana Corina Sosa, accepted the 2026 Concordia Leadership Award on her mother’s behalf at a ceremony in Manhattan on Tuesday. Sosa said Machado was working “day and night” to return to Venezuela despite what she described as a highly restrictive political environment.
Meanwhile, Rodriguez met with US President Donald Trump at a hotel in New York. In his address to the General Assembly, Trump referred to operational cooperation between his administration and Rodriguez’s interim government following the US capture of former President Nicolas Maduro in January.
Dispute over energy agreement
Trump also highlighted a newly negotiated energy framework, saying the United States and Venezuela jointly influence “more than 60%” of global oil reserves. Machado has previously criticised the agreement, arguing that long-term resource concessions cannot be signed with an unconstitutional administration.
“The wealth of our land does not belong to an illegitimate regime; it belongs to the Venezuelan people,” she said in a video message released earlier this month.
Machado has remained outside Venezuela since December
Machado secretly left Venezuela by sea for Curacao in December 2025 to accept the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo. She has remained outside the country since Maduro’s removal and two major earthquakes that struck northern Venezuela.
Her attempts to return began in late June, after the earthquakes. The US State Department has advised against her immediate return, citing security concerns.
Despite state-sanctioned transition talks, the interim administration led by Rodriguez, a former vice president whose US sanctions have been lifted, continues to enforce entry bans introduced under Maduro, leaving the opposition’s main leader in exile.
