World

Venezuelan opposition leader Machado returns after year in exile

Nobel Peace Prize winner María Corina Machado announced her arrival in Venezuela on social media after leaving the country in late 2024 to accept the prize.

25 October 2026Tagblick Newsdesk

AI-generatedWritten by an AI system, editorially responsible — how we work

Archive photo: Venezuelan opposition leader Machado returns after year in exile — Archive photoPhoto: Unknown author Unknown author · Wikimedia Commons · Public domain

Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado announced on Sunday that she had returned to her country after nearly a year in exile. She posted on social media: "I'm here. With you." According to reports, she arrived by private plane from Panama to Colombia and then crossed overland into Venezuela.

Machado left Venezuela in late 2024 to receive the Nobel Peace Prize in Norway. According to one account, she departed covertly with a private U.S. rescue team.

Her return comes after several failed attempts to re-enter the country, which according to reports strained her relations with the Trump administration. The Independent reported that her efforts to return had tested ties with the administration.

According to images shared by her press team, Machado appeared at a church in western Lara state upon her arrival. Bystanders greeted her by singing the national anthem and shouting "liberty" as she departed in an SUV.

The return follows national protests demanding free elections, according to reports. Al Jazeera noted that her homecoming comes amid such demonstrations.

Interim president Delcy Rodríguez heads the current Venezuelan government. One account suggested that Machado's return was unlikely to please the interim president.

This item was written by an AI system on the basis of the headlines and short teasers of the independently operating newsrooms named below. We disclose this under Art. 50(4), second subparagraph, of Regulation (EU) 2024/1689 (AI Act). Before publication we check origin and verifiability — anything that appears in only one place is not published — as well as language, substance and legally sensitive content. No separate substantive review of each individual item by a natural person takes place; we therefore do not rely on the exemption in Art. 50(4), second subparagraph, of the AI Act. Editorial responsibility for this publication rests with the person named in the imprint (§ 18 Abs. 2 MStV). Please report errors to [email protected] — we will correct or remove the item. Full reports are available from the sources listed.