After more than ten months in exile, Venezuelan opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize laureate María Corina Machado returned home Sunday. Her return comes to a political landscape reshaped by her ally, the United States—but without her involvement. “I am here. With you,” Machado announced on X, shortly before other opposition figures confirmed her arrival.
1+Machado left Venezuela last December for Norway to accept the Nobel Peace Prize, awarded for her work advancing democratic rights in her country. A month after she left, the U.S. ousted her rival, President Nicolás Maduro, and began working with the country’s interim government to lead a transition toward democratization and political reconciliation—a process from which Machado was excluded.
During her time abroad, Machado tried to return to Venezuela seven times without success, according to her advisers. Meanwhile, she toured the world to rally political support and even gave her Nobel Prize to U.S. President Donald Trump. Though the Trump administration showed her support in the past, it has shut her out of the current political transition.
1+After arresting Maduro, President Trump called Machado “a very nice woman” but claimed she “doesn’t have the support or respect within the country” to lead. Instead, the U.S. is working with Maduro’s successor, acting President Delcy Rodríguez, to implement political and economic reforms, including releasing hundreds of political prisoners and easing investment by American companies.
In late August, Trump announced the U.S. had reached a deal to gain majority control of more than 65 billion barrels of proven oil reserves in Venezuela. Machado, for her part, released a video questioning why the oil deal was signed by the current government, which she called “an illegitimate regime.” The interim government has promised to hold new elections, but no date has been set.