Venezuelan opposition leader María Machado returns after months in exile
Machado had left the country just a month before the US government seized Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.
Key points
- María Machado returned to Venezuela on Sunday after months in exile, attending Mass in Lara state before travelling to Caracas.
- Her ally Edmundo González confirmed her arrival and said he would soon join her in Venezuela.
- US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said her safe return resulted from US-supported reconciliation talks.
Venezuelan opposition leader María Machado has returned to the country after months in exile, writing on X on Sunday: "I am here. With you." Her return followed repeated earlier attempts to re-enter Venezuela that came to no avail.
Machado was photographed on Sunday attending Mass at a church in the state of Lara, surrounded by supporters. She then travelled to the capital Caracas in a caravan of cheering supporters, leaning out of a car's sunroof as she entered the city late on Sunday night.
Reaction to her return
Her ally, former presidential candidate Edmundo González, confirmed her arrival and said he was thrilled to announce that "our leader, my dear María Corina, is on Venezuelan soil." He added that he will soon join her in Venezuela to advance the country "toward freedom."
A spokesman for Machado, David Smolansky, called her return "a major step toward a democratic transition and free, fair, and verifiable presidential elections in the near future." He thanked President Donald Trump, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the US government, Congress and allied governments for their support.
I am thrilled to announce to you that our leader, my dear María Corina, is on Venezuelan soil.
— Edmundo González
What Trump and Rubio said
Speaking to reporters on Sunday, Trump said he did not know anything about her return and added that he hoped she was "safe." He also said he thought she was "a very nice woman" who gave him her Nobel Prize.
Rubio said the conditions allowing Machado's safe return were the direct result of US-supported reconciliation talks, which he said had already seen hundreds of political prisoners freed and hundreds of opposition figures return from exile.
