Nobel Laureate Opposition Leader Maria Corina Machado Returns to Venezuela After About a Year in Exile

Venezuelan opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Maria Corina Machado has returned to her own country, AFP has reported. Machado confirmed her return after about a year in exile in a post on social media.

In a brief post in Spanish on X, Machado wrote: 'I am here. With you.' Her ally and exiled presidential candidate Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia quickly reshared the post.

Sharing the post, Gonzalez Urrutia wrote: 'Venezuela! With great joy I inform you that our leader, my dear Maria Corina, is now on Venezuelan soil.' He also wrote that today is a very important day for Venezuelans; their sovereign voice has returned to lead and guide this process, and very soon he will be with them and with her, so that the country can truly move forward on the path to freedom.

Machado had been in exile since secretly leaving Venezuela at the end of 2025 to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. According to her party, she tried at least seven times to return to the country, but the Venezuelan authorities blocked her.

In the month after Machado left Venezuela, US forces detained the country's longtime leader Nicolas Maduro and took him to New York to face criminal charges. Machado lavishly praised US President Donald Trump for carrying out the risky operation.

However, Washington allowed Maduro's deputy Delcy Rodriguez to run the country as interim president. Because of Trump's repeated expressions of satisfaction with Rodriguez, many observers believed Washington had a role in creating obstacles to Machado's return home.