Venezuelan opposition leader Machado returns after months away

Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado announced Sunday that she had returned home after months away, entering a country now led by her longtime opponent’s former deputy, Delcy Rodríguez, with no presidential election scheduled.

“I am here. With you,” Machado wrote on X. Her ally, former presidential candidate Edmundo González Urrutia, confirmed her arrival minutes later. “I am thrilled to announce to you that our leader, my dear María Corina, is on Venezuelan soil,” he wrote.

González said he would join Machado “very soon,” according to NPR. “Today is a very important day for Venezuelans. Our sovereign voice returns with her to lead and guide this process!” he wrote on X. “You know it, this is until the end.”

Both the BBC and NPR described Machado’s return as coming after more than 10 months in exile. NPR also reported that Sunday marked her first appearance in Venezuela since December, when she was in Norway to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. She had left Venezuela in a clandestine escape, according to NPR, after spending 11 months in hiding in the country. NPR said she went into hiding after being briefly detained following a protest in January 2025.

The political landscape changed while Machado was away. The United States seized then-President Nicolás Maduro in January, the BBC reported; NPR described the operation as a U.S. military ouster. The Trump administration backed Maduro’s deputy, Rodríguez, as his successor. She was sworn in as interim president and later signed an oil deal with the United States, according to the BBC.

Rodríguez, a longtime Maduro ally, has remained in office beyond the time she was authorized to serve as acting president following Maduro’s capture, NPR reported. No election is scheduled. Machado and her allies have demanded a date for a presidential vote, while U.S. officials have emphasized economic stabilization first, according to NPR.

Machado’s return brings her back into those debates in person. González’s message suggested he, too, plans to return, but he did not give a date beyond saying he would be with her “very soon.”