Machado announces presidential bid, plans Venezuela return by 2026

Maria Corina Machado, Venezuela’s Nobel Peace Prize laureate and leading opposition figure, announced Saturday that she plans to run for president and intends to return to her home country before the end of 2026. Speaking in Panama City alongside fellow Venezuelan opposition leaders, Machado said she remains committed to a democratic transition through free and fair presidential elections.

Machado has been in exile since December, when she emerged from 11 months in hiding inside Venezuela and traveled to Norway to accept the Nobel Peace Prize. She was barred from running in the 2024 presidential election by the government of then President Nicolás Maduro, leading her to back retired ambassador Edmundo González Urrutia as the opposition candidate. Many in the international community recognize González as the rightful winner of that election.

Her announcement comes more than four months after the White House decided to sideline her and instead work with acting President Delcy Rodríguez, who succeeded Maduro after his capture by U.S. forces in January. The Trump administration has praised Rodríguez for opening Venezuela’s oil industry to U.S. investment amid surging oil prices tied...