Opposition leader Machado returns to Venezuela after 10 months in exile

Venezuelan opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner Maria Corina Machado said Sunday she has returned to her home country after nearly a year in exile.

Her appearance was the first since December, about a month before the US military deposed the country's then-president Nicolás Maduro.

"I am here. With you," Machado wrote in a short post in Spanish on X.

Her ally, exiled presidential candidate Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia, quickly reposted the message and said: "Venezuela! I am thrilled to announce to you that our leader, my dear Maria 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! Very soon I will be with you and with her so that our country truly advances toward freedom," he added.

Machado has been in exile since covertly leaving her South American homeland in late 2025 to receive her Nobel Peace Prize. According to Machado's party, she has tried at least seven times to return but has been blocked by Venezuelan authorities.

Machado's homecoming after more than 10 months in exile took place as doubts over Venezuela's democratic future – and the US's role in it – deepen.

The month after she fled Venezuela, US forces seized the country's longtime leader Nicolas Maduro and flew him to New York to face criminal charges.

Machado has heaped praise on US President Donald Trump for launching the risky operation, though Washington has allowed Maduro's deputy, Delcy Rodriguez, to rule as interim president.

Rodríguez has exceeded the time she was authorised to serve as acting president following Maduro's capture and no election is scheduled.

Machado went into hiding in Venezuela for 11 months after being briefly detained following a protest in January 2025. After leaving the country in a clandestine escape, she reappeared that December in Norway, where she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for her peaceful challenge to Maduro's authoritarian government.

Machado and her allies have been demanding a date for a presidential election in Venezuela, but US officials have emphasised economic stabilisation first.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP, AP and Reuters)