María Corina Machado returns to Venezuela

Barcelona"I am here. With you". With this brief message on social media, María Corina Machado, the leader of the anti-Chavista opposition, has announced that she has returned to Venezuela. No more words were needed. Her followers have quickly understood that the Nobel Peace Prize laureate has arrived in the South American country after ten months of absence.

In case there was any doubt, Edmundo González, the presidential candidate for Venezuela, has confirmed the return on his social media: "Venezuela! I am very excited to announce to you that our leader, my dear María Corina, is in Venezuelan territory. Today is an important day for Venezuelans. Our sovereign voice returns with her." Likewise, Machado's party, Come Venezuela, has released a photograph where the opposition leader is seen being welcomed by dozens of supporters at the Divina Pastora sanctuary, in the city of Barquisimeto, in northwestern Venezuela.

The return of María Corina Machado, however, has not been easy at all. The opposition leader has unsuccessfully attempted to enter Venezuela seven times over the last three months. She had tried different routes—by land, sea, and air—and from places as diverse as Panama, Curaçao, and the United States. This time she has achieved her goal, but for the moment neither she nor her team have provided details about how the return trip was made. That said, Edmundo González, exiled in Madrid since September 2024, has stated that "very soon" he too will return to Venezuela so that the country can "truly advance toward freedom."

Call for mobilization

Machado had repeatedly expressed her intention to return to participate directly in decisions about the future of Venezuela, and to assume a more active role at the head of the opposition. This same week she had called for citizen mobilization and had demanded that a date be set for the presidential elections in Venezuela, the calling of which remains unconfirmed since Nicolás Maduro was captured by the United States last January and Delcy Rodríguez took over from him at the head of the government without first going to the polls.

The return of the opposition leader is a challenge for Chavismo, which considers her its main enemy. But it is also a snub to the American president, Donald Trump, who has tried to postpone Machado's return to the South American country and has preferred to ally himself with Delcy Rodríguez.

Machado left Venezuela in December of last year with the goal of to collect the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo. Her initial intention was to return after a few weeks, but, to her surprise, the Chavista government has prevented her from doing so time and time again.

Before leaving Venezuela, Machado lived in hiding for almost a year to avoid being arrested for having denounced that the 2024 presidential elections, in which Nicolás Maduro was re-elected, were totally fraudulent, since the National Electoral Council did not publish the details of the votes. According to the opposition, which managed to obtain a copy of the voting records, the true winner of the elections was Edmundo González, the candidate supported by Machado.