María Corina Machado Returns to Venezuela After More Than 10 Months in Exile: “I Am Here. With You”

Developing story.

Venezuelan opposition leader and 2025 Nobel Peace Prize laureate María Corina Machado announced on Sunday, October 25, that she is back on Venezuelan soil after more than 10 months abroad. “I am here. With you,” she wrote on Instagram and X.

Minutes later, Edmundo González Urrutia, the winner of the 2024 presidential election according to the tally sheets released by the opposition, confirmed her return on X: “Venezuela! I am deeply moved to announce that our leader, my dear María Corina, is on Venezuelan territory.” González, who has also lived outside the country since 2024, said he will return soon: “Very soon I will be with you and with her so that our country can truly move toward freedom.” (Quotes translated from Spanish.)

What we know about Machado’s return

Her team has not released official details of how she returned. According to Reuters, citing two people with knowledge of the matter, Machado flew by private plane from Panama to Colombia and then crossed into Venezuela overland.

According to CNN, other opposition figures confirmed her arrival without providing further details. Bloomberg Línea reported that minutes after her message she reappeared at the shrine of the Divina Pastora in Lara state. Venezuelan outlet El Pitazo, which was at the scene, reported that she arrived during Sunday Mass, greeted supporters and left shortly after 1 p.m. local time.

The Associated Press confirmed that Machado appeared at a church in Lara, west of Caracas, where dozens of people applauded and greeted her.

Her foreign affairs adviser, David Smolansky, said Machado will meet with earthquake victims, families of political prisoners, the international community and leaders of the democratic movement, and will push for a date for free and fair elections, Reuters reported. Her team said she will travel by road to Caracas.

In the afternoon, thousands of people lined the highways to greet her caravan as it left Lara and moved through Yaracuy, Carabobo and Aragua toward Caracas, Spanish news agency EFE reported. According to the agency, Machado traveled in armored vehicles and no incidents were reported.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio credited U.S. mediation for her return, and Dinorah Figuera, who heads the opposition delegation in talks with the chavista government, called it a result of those talks, according to EFE.

Spanish newspaper ABC reported that her return was made possible by a diplomatic operation involving several countries and carried out with the knowledge of the United States. Earlier this month, President Donald Trump had said he expected her eventual return to go well.

Her advisers told CNN that Machado had tried at least seven times in recent months to re-enter Venezuela without success. Machado has accused the chavista government of blocking her return, including by closing the country’s airspace. Venezuelan authorities deny having blocked her, according to AP.

At the time of writing, acting president Delcy Rodríguez had not commented publicly on the opposition leader’s return. Venezuela’s communications ministry did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

The Venezuelan government considers Machado a fugitive and accuses her of calling for military intervention against the country, CBS News noted. No arrests linked to her return have been reported so far.

Washington’s reaction

Asked about her return, President Donald Trump said he did not know anything about it and again called Machado “a very nice woman,” AP reported. According to Reuters, Trump added that the United States would keep backing Delcy Rodríguez. He also told reporters he hopes Machado is safe, Univision reported.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said Machado has every right to enter her country whenever she chooses. Trump administration officials deny holding her back, though they acknowledge they have at times advised her against returning for safety reasons, the news agency reported.

What Florida lawmakers are saying

In South Florida, Rep. Carlos Giménez wrote on X that he holds Delcy Rodríguez, Jorge Rodríguez, Diosdado Cabello, Vladimir Padrino López and Gustavo González López responsible for any harm that comes to Machado, and reaffirmed his support for her, Univision reported.

Rep. María Elvira Salazar celebrated the return on X, writing that it marks an important moment for Venezuela. Sen. Rick Scott said in an interview with EVTV that he would be willing to travel to Venezuela with Machado.

A clandestine exit and a different country

María Corina Machado left Venezuela in December 2025, after more than a year in hiding following the July 2024 election, to travel to Oslo and receive the Nobel Peace Prize. She did not arrive in time for the ceremony, and her daughter, Ana Corina Sosa Machado, read her acceptance speech.

The political landscape has changed dramatically since then. After Nicolás Maduro was captured in a U.S. military operation in January 2026, Delcy Rodríguez took over as acting president. Washington has since backed a political dialogue that includes several opposition figures but has left out Machado and González Urrutia, something Machado herself has denounced.

Rodríguez had warned that Machado “will have to answer” if she came back, The Associated Press reported. On August 28, Omar González, a member of Machado’s team who spent 14 months as an asylee in Argentina’s embassy in Caracas before leaving the country in 2025, returned to Venezuela and said Machado had asked him to “clear the way” for her, El Diario reported.

Although Washington has backed Machado in the past, it has largely sidelined her from the transition. After Maduro’s fall, Trump called her “a very nice woman” but said she lacked the support and respect inside the country to lead it, according to CNN.

What comes next: elections with no date

No date has been set for a presidential election. Machado has said the vote should take place by July 2027, has demanded that the government set a date and in May vowed to run for president again, The Associated Press reported. According to Reuters, her Vente Venezuela movement launched an app on Saturday to register Venezuelans abroad who want to vote, and hopes to share that data with a reformed electoral council.

Delcy Rodríguez promised the United Nations General Assembly a transition to full democracy, but her government has yet to announce when the vote will take place, CNN noted.

What has been confirmed so far: María Corina Machado announced her return on Sunday on social media, and González Urrutia confirmed it on X. Neither Machado nor the Rodríguez government has released official details on how she entered the country; the route through Colombia comes from sources cited by Reuters.

Cubanos por el Mundo will update this story as more details about María Corina Machado’s return become available.

Update (October 25): Added Edmundo González Urrutia’s confirmation on X, Machado’s reappearance in Lara state according to Bloomberg Línea, and ABC’s report on the diplomatic operation. We also noted that Machado posted her message on both Instagram and X, corrected the length of Omar González’s time outside Venezuela and attributed her plan to run again to an AP report from May.

Update (October 25, 1:00 p.m. ET): Added AP’s confirmation of her appearance in Lara, Trump’s reaction, Rubio’s position and the Venezuelan government’s denial that it blocked her return.

Update (October 25, 1:36 p.m. ET): Added the agenda announced by her adviser David Smolansky and Trump’s statement that the U.S. will keep backing Delcy Rodríguez, according to Reuters.

Update (October 25, 3:36 p.m. ET): Added the route through Colombia reported by Reuters, her team’s plan to travel by road to Caracas and the launch of Vente Venezuela’s voter app.

Update (October 25, 5:04 p.m. ET): Added Trump’s comment that he hopes Machado is safe and reactions from Florida Reps. Carlos Giménez and María Elvira Salazar and Sen. Rick Scott.

Update (October 25, 5:42 p.m. ET): Added that the Venezuelan government considers Machado a fugitive, according to CBS News, and that no arrests linked to her return have been reported.

Update (October 25, 6:39 p.m. ET): Added the caravan that crossed Lara, Yaracuy, Carabobo and Aragua toward Caracas, according to EFE; Marco Rubio crediting U.S. mediation for her return; and details of her arrival at the shrine reported by El Pitazo.