Venezuela’s most popular opposition leader, former lawmaker and Nobel Peace Prize winner María Corina Machado, made a surprise arrival in her home country on Sunday after being trapped in exile for about a year, welcomed home by throngs of adoring crowds.
Machado led a caravan through three Venezuelan states — Yaracuy, Carabobo, and Aragua — following her arrival before reaching the capital, Caracas, late on Sunday night. The socialist regime still in power apparently allowed Machado, the leader of the right-wing party Vente Venezuela, to make her return, and no reports indicate that repressive forces interrupted her rallies.
The lawmaker, ousted from her position in the National Assembly over a decade ago by former dictator Nicolás Maduro, left Venezuela in December 2025 after spending months in hiding from Maduro’s thugs. She departed in secret to visit Norway and receive her Nobel Peace Prize, which she later gifted to President Donald Trump in Washington after he approved a military operation to arrest Maduro and his wife, “first combatant” Cilia Flores. The details of how she arrived in Venezuela this weekend remain unclear, but Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement on Sunday that the event was the “direct” result of U.S.-aided negotiations between the regime and a team representing the 2015 National Assembly, the last group of people elected in free and fair elections in the country.
According to the Venezuelan newspaper El Nacional, Machado’s rallies attracted thousands of attendees in the various states she visited. Machado has offered limited commentary herself at press time, appearing publicly and saluting her supporters. A very public Catholic, Machado also made a stop in Santa Rosa, Lara state, to attend Mass.
Machado arrived in the national capital after sunset, again surrounded by what appeared to be thousands of people embracing her arrival. The politician shared videos of her travel through Caracas on social media.
In 2025, the last time she was in the country, Machado was forced into hiding after Maduro held a fraudulent election the year prior, which he “won” against elderly former diplomat Edmundo González, who appeared on the ballot representing Machado after Maduro banned her from running for president. Machado has reportedly attempted to return to Venezuela on multiple occasions but faced significant safety threats, even after Maduro’s arrest.
According to Spanish journalist David Alandete with the newspaper ABC, Machado was able to return to the country safely “thanks to a diplomatic operation in which various countries participated and the United States was privy to.” Secretary Rubio appeared to confirm that America had a hand in her return, issuing a statement on Sunday.
“The conditions allowing for the safe return of Ms. Machado to Venezuela is the direct result of the U.S. supported reconciliation talks which has already seen hundreds of political prisoners freed and hundreds of political opposition figures return from exile,” he wrote. “The United States expects the freedoms of all sectors of Venezuelan politics to continue to be respected.”
“Likewise, we expect all political actors to support these talks which represent the best chance Venezuela has had in thirty years to peacefully achieve not just a free and fair election but an enduring democracy,” he added.
The lead negotiator for the opposition in these talks, 2015 National Assembly head Dinorah Figuera, also issued a statement celebrating Machado’s return.
“Today we see advances towards obtaining full guarantees for all Venezuelans,” she said in a social media message. “We celebrate the free return of María Corina Machado. This is a direct result of January 3 [Maduro’s arrest date] and the strength of dialogue.”
Speaking to Breitbart News last week, Figuera emphasized that successful negotiations with Venezuela’s violent socialist regime — which remains in place, led by one of Maduro’s top henchwomen, “interim president” Delcy Rodríguez — were in large part the consequence of Trump’s use of the military to arrest Maduro, who faces narco-terrorism and murder charges in America.
“The accompaniment of the United States and the words of [Secretary of State Marco Rubio] have been determinative,” she emphasized. “I want to thank the United States, Marco Rubio, Donald Trump, for there being January 3 because after January 3 is when the path to hope was open.”
Venezuelans throughout the country organized rallies on Friday demanding Machado’s return and expressing frustration with the continued presence of Rodríguez at the helm of the country. The protests against the regime occurred with no major reported incidents of violence and only sporadic reports of regime intervention, a major change from the deadly repression common under Maduro.
Machado has consistently been the most popular opposition politician in Venezuela for years, in large part as a result of refusing to engage in negotiations with Maduro. Her party also received praise for proving Maduro’s fraud in the 2024 election by counting votes on a local level and publishing its own election tallies online, proving Maduro suffered a decisive loss against González and allowing for global rejection of his claim to legitimacy.