Venezuelan Opposition Leader María Corina Machado Returns After Year in Exile

Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, who beat Donald Trump to the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize, has returned home after spending almost a year abroad.

The 59-year-old had been living in exile since secretly leaving Venezuela late last year to collect the prestigious award.

“I’m here. With you all,” Machado wrote on social media early Sunday as she addressed her fellow Venezuelans.

Her Vente Venezuela party said Machado had made several unsuccessful attempts to return after being blocked from entering the country. She was later seen at a church in Barquisimeto, in northwestern Venezuela, where cheering supporters gathered around her.

Her return could put further strain on relations with the administration of US President Donald Trump. In January, US forces captured Venezuela’s then-president Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, during a raid. The couple were taken to New York to face criminal charges.

Machado has strongly praised Trump for authorising the controversial operation and even presented him with her Nobel Peace Prize medal.

She travelled secretly to Norway in late 2025 to accept the Nobel Peace Prize, awarded for what judges described as “her efforts to advance democracy in Venezuela”. Before her departure, Maduro’s government had prevented her from leaving the country. She had spent more than a year living largely in hiding.

Despite its actions against Maduro, Washington has backed his deputy, Delcy Rodriguez, as interim president. Rodriguez subsequently signed a favourable oil agreement with the United States in August.

Machado’s next steps remain unclear, as do the circumstances surrounding her return to Venezuelan soil. She has previously said she would seek the presidency again if new elections were held.

Her return was welcomed by ally Edmundo González Urrutia, who stood as the opposition’s presidential candidate in 2024 after Machado was prevented from running. He described her as Venezuela’s “sovereign voice”.

Writing on social media, González said: “Venezuela! I am thrilled to announce to you that our leader, my dear Maria Corina, is on Venezuelan soil.

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“Today is a very important day for Venezuelans. Our sovereign voice returns to lead and guide this process!

“Very soon I will be with you and with her so that our country truly advances toward freedom.”

Machado announced in 2023 that she intended to run for president the following year. She won the opposition’s independent primary with more than 90 per cent of the vote.

However, the Maduro administration barred her from standing for office, accusing her of fraud and tax violations. Machado has repeatedly rejected the allegations, saying they were politically motivated.

Her plans to return had also created tensions with Washington. US officials reportedly asked her to postpone the trip in June.

Trump has repeatedly voiced support for interim President Delcy Rodriguez and praised agreements involving oil production and other business ventures by US companies in Venezuela.

In September, the US president said it was too early to consider holding democratic elections in Venezuela.

International energy firms committed last month to expanding projects in the country in a signing ceremony overseen by Rodriguez and US Energy Secretary Chris Wright.

Machado has said only a ‘serious, democratic government’ can provide the stability needed by investors. 

In June, she said she would do whatever it took to come home and help the survivors of devastating twin earthquakes that month, which killed at least 6,500 people and left thousands missing. 

A faction of the opposition and the interim government held their latest session of talks this month, which aim to remake the top court and electoral council, among other goals, ahead of eventual elections. They do not include Machado’s political movement.