Machado Returns to Venezuela After More Than 10 Months Abroad

María Corina Machado announced her return to Venezuela on October 25, ending more than 10 months abroad and re-entering a political transition that has advanced without her. The opposition leader said on social media that she was in the country. Former presidential candidate Edmundo González Urrutia also confirmed her return, but neither provided details about how she arrived. Machado left Venezuela in December 2025 to travel to Oslo to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. Her return followed repeated unsuccessful efforts to re-enter the country. Her advisers said she had attempted seven times; accounts described efforts from locations including the United States, Panama and Curaçao. Reports said some attempts were blocked or canceled, but did not establish who was responsible for each obstacle. A report that Machado entered through Colombia was attributed to Newsmax and was not independently verified. Her route and the circumstances of her arrival therefore remain unconfirmed. Machado had previously said she could not lead Venezuela’s political process from abroad, and her return puts her back in the country as opposition figures and government officials negotiate its future. The...