“I’m here. With you.” Four simple words that can say everything for the Venezuelan people, but which in the meantime say a lot. Thus the opposition leader María Corina Machado announced on social media that she had returned to her country after almost a year of exile. In December 2025, politics moved away from Venezuela to collect the Nobel Peace Prize in Norway. Since then: Trump has captured the dictator Nicolás Maduro, made noose agreements with interim president Delcy Rodríguez and Machado has failed several attempts to return to the country.
The post
“Estoy here. Con ustedes”, he writes on X Machado. The post is going viral on social media and the news has already gone around the world. His ally and former presidential candidate, Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia, celebrated his return: “Venezuela! I am thrilled to announce that our leader, my dear Maria Corina, is on Venezuelan soil. Today is a very important day for Venezuelans,” he wrote on X. “Very soon I will be with you and with her so that our country truly advances towards freedom,” Urrutia added.
There is also a film documenting his presence in Venezuela. Machado reappeared on October 25 during a mass in the town of Santa Rosa (Lara State), where she was welcomed with hugs by followers of her party, Vente Venezuela.
⚠️⚠️Venezuela receive María Corina Machado after 10 months outside the country and you are intent on failure.
Images of the Command with Venezuela. https://t.co/WHuORaPKn1
— Mag Jorge Castro🇨🇺 (@MagJorgeCastro) October 25, 2026
Trump: “I hope he’s safe”
“She’s a very kind woman. She gave me her Nobel Prize, so how can I say anything else? And I hope she’s safe,” Trump told reporters in Washington. The president gave no details about the adversary’s return and added: “We are doing very well in Venezuela.”
Rubio: “Return is the result of talks with Caracas”
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio explained better the background to Machado’s return. “The conditions that allow Ms. Machado’s safe return to Venezuela are the direct result of U.S.-backed reconciliation talks,” he wrote on X.
“The United States expects that the freedoms of all components of Venezuelan politics will continue to be respected,” Rubio added, calling on all political forces to support the talks. According to the head of American diplomacy, the negotiations represent “the best opportunity that Venezuela has had in the last thirty years to peacefully arrive not only at free and fair elections, but at a lasting democracy”.
Who’s in charge in Venezuela
After Machado’s departure, Venezuela’s history changed completely in a month. On January 3, 2026, the United States captured President Nicolás Maduro in an operation by the Delta Force unit. Delcy Rodríguez was then appointed interim president and her government began working with Washington to lead the country towards a democratic transition. The agreements with Caracas excluded the main opposition leaders, Machado and his ally Urrutia.
Rodríguez has accepted almost all of the Trump administration’s demands, including the release of hundreds of political prisoners and the simplification of procedures for US companies to invest in the country.
In late August, Trump announced that the United States had reached a deal to take majority control of more than 65 billion barrels of proven oil reserves in Venezuela.
Machado’s attempts
Machado has attempted to return to Venezuela seven times in recent months, without success. At the end of June, after the two powerful earthquakes that devastated the country, he declared that the government had hindered his return by closing the airspace.
Machado has repeatedly promised that if she returned home, she would run for president again in the event of an election. In late August, a key member of his staff, Omar González, returned to the country after nearly three years in exile. He himself called it a “prelude” to Machado’s arrival.
At the end of September he tried again. He took advantage of the interim president’s visit to New York for the United Nations General Assembly. But she was denied entry three times in a single day.