Machado returns to Venezuela after 10 months in exile

Venezuelan opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner María Corina Machado said on Sunday, Oct. 25, 2026, that she is back in Venezuela after almost 10 months in exile, in a return that tests the interim government of Delcy Rodríguez.

Machado had made at least seven failed attempts to re-enter the country in the past three months, her team has said. No election date has been set, and her party has been left out of U.S.-backed talks on how and when Venezuelans will vote.

Machado announced the return on X with five words in Spanish: “Estoy aquí. Con ustedes,” or “I am here. With you,” as reported by EFE and other outlets. Edmundo González Urrutia, the opposition candidate she backed in the 2024 presidential election, also wrote on X that “our leader, my dear María Corina, is on Venezuelan soil.”

Reports differ on where she is. Early accounts placed her at the Divina Pastora sanctuary in Barquisimeto, in Lara state. Spain’s public broadcaster RTVE later reported she was in Caracas. The route and conditions of her entry have not been made public, and this story is developing.

Machado left Venezuela clandestinely in December 2025 to travel to Norway to receive the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize. She had spent more than a year in hiding after she was barred from the July 2024 presidential vote.

Her team said earlier attempts to come home, organized from the United States, Panama and Curaçao, were cancelled or blocked without a clear explanation. Spanish media reported that U.S. officials had advised her to delay for security reasons. U.S. authorities have not publicly confirmed blocking her.

The Venezuelan government has not reported a reaction to her arrival, and Rodríguez did not immediately respond, Euronews reported. Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello had publicly hinted that authorities were preparing a response if she returned, and government allies have warned she could face legal consequences for backing the U.S. military operation that removed Nicolás Maduro.

U.S. forces captured Maduro in January 2026, and Rodríguez has led the country on an interim basis since. Washington has been negotiating with her government on renewing the Supreme Court and the national electoral council. Machado’s party, Vente Venezuela, is not part of those talks, and she has called for a presidential vote before July 2027.

U.S. President Donald Trump told reporters he was not aware of the return and said, “I hope she is safe,” according to CNN and Reuters. ABC News reported that Washington knew of the plans and that a diplomatic effort involving several countries made the return possible. There is no official U.S. confirmation of that account.

David Smolansky, an adviser to Machado, called the return “a major step toward a democratic transition and free, fair, and verifiable presidential elections in the near future.”

Canada has taken a clear side in the past. Prime Minister Mark Carney spoke with Machado in early January, shortly after Maduro’s capture, and his office said Canada backs a peaceful, Venezuelan-led and negotiated transition, according to Bloomberg Línea. Global Affairs Canada said on Jan. 3 that Canada has “refused to recognize any legitimacy of the Maduro regime” and stands by “the people of Venezuela and their desire to live in a peaceful and democratic society.”

No Canadian government comment on Machado’s return had been found by Sunday afternoon. Canada closed its embassy in Caracas in 2019, and Canadians who need help in Venezuela are directed to the embassy in Bogotá, Colombia. After two earthquakes struck near Caracas on June 24, the federal government said it continued to advise Canadians to avoid all travel to Venezuela, according to its travel advisory.

The return follows a march by thousands of Venezuelans on Oct. 24 demanding elections. It also bears on Canadian energy interests, since Venezuelan oil policy shapes the market for heavy crude, as we reported in our look at the Trump-Venezuela oil deal.

What happens next depends on how Rodríguez’s government responds. Watch for any move by prosecutors or security forces, a public appearance by Machado, and whether the U.S.-backed talks add an election date.

Via EFE, Euronews, CNN, Reuters and Bloomberg Línea.

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