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Maria Corina Machado Returns to Venezuela After More Than 10 Months in Exile
Venezuelan opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner Maria Corina Machado announced on Sunday that she has returned to Venezuela after more than 10 months in exile, in a short post in Spanish on X reading 'I am here. With you.'
By Haut Monde Post
• October 25, 2026
• 2 Min Read
A return announced from X
Maria Corina Machado's return to Venezuela ends a stretch of machado exile that began when she covertly left the country in late 2025 to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. It was her first public appearance since December, about a month before the US military deposed then-president Nicolás Maduro.
"I am here. With you," Machado wrote in a short post in Spanish on X.
Her ally, exiled presidential candidate Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia, reposted her message and announced she was on Venezuelan soil.
"Venezuela! I am thrilled to announce to you that our leader, my dear Maria Corina, is on Venezuelan soil."
Gonzalez Urrutia added that very soon he would be with Venezuelans and with her, pledging to join Machado in Venezuela.
How the exile began
Machado went into hiding in Venezuela for 11 months after being briefly detained following a protest in January 2025. After her clandestine escape, she reappeared that December in Norway, where she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for her peaceful challenge to Maduro's authoritarian government.
Her route home was not straightforward either. According to her party:
- •She tried at least seven times to return to Venezuela
- •Each attempt was blocked by Venezuelan authorities
A country without a scheduled election
The homecoming comes amid deepening doubts over Venezuela's democratic future and the US role in it. US forces seized Maduro the month after Machado fled and flew him to New York to face criminal charges. Machado has heaped praise on US President Donald Trump for launching the risky operation.
Washington has allowed Maduro's deputy, Delcy Rodriguez, to rule as interim president. She has exceeded the time she was authorised to serve as acting president following Maduro's capture, and no election is scheduled. Machado and her allies are demanding a date for a presidential election, while US officials have emphasised economic stabilisation first.
Talks between the interim government and the opposition
The post-maduro transition has seen its first diplomatic step: Venezuela's interim government and the opposition have wrapped a first round of post-Maduro talks. Machado's return lands in the middle of that process, with Gonzalez Urrutia saying he will soon join her in Venezuela.
