"I am here": Machado returned to Venezuela after nearly a year
Venezuelan opposition leader and 2025 Nobel Peace Prize laureate María Corina Machado has returned to her homeland after nearly a year of forced exile. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio stated that her safe return was the result of negotiations supported by Washington.
"I am here": Machado returned to Venezuela after almost a year
"I am here. With you," Machado wrote on October 25 on the X social network.
According to DW, the return of the 59-year-old politician was also confirmed by her ally, former presidential candidate Edmundo González Urrutia. He called this day very important for Venezuelans. The exact location of Machado and the details of her return have not yet been disclosed.
Three days before this, on October 22, thousands of protesters in Venezuela demanded Machado's return. According to AFP, nearly two thousand people took to the streets in Caracas, some holding signs demanding elections. A similar rally also took place in the state of Táchira, bordering Colombia.
Machado lived in hiding following the contested 2024 presidential election and secretly left Venezuela in December 2025.
AFP recalled that she fractured one of her vertebrae while leaving the country on a wooden fishing boat. Upon arriving in Norway for the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony, she was admitted to a hospital in Oslo. Her daughter accepted the award on her behalf.
The US Department of State previously announced the conclusion of the next round of talks between the Caracas government and the opposition. Delcy Rodríguez is temporarily leading the government after Nicolás Maduro was detained by the United States.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio described the creation of conditions for Machado's safe return as a direct result of the US-backed reconciliation talks. The report noted that hundreds of political prisoners were released and hundreds more opposition figures returned from exile during the negotiations.
In Venezuela, following the 2024 presidential election, the government declared Nicolás Maduro the winner. The opposition did not recognize the results, stating that their candidate Edmundo González Urrutia received the most votes.
In early January, Maduro was detained by US military forces in Caracas and taken to New York. He was charged with, among other things, "narco-terrorism."