María Corina Machado returns to Venezuela as opposition presses for an election
The opposition leader reappeared before supporters on October 25 after months in exile. Her party is seeking a presidential election in 2027 and wants her to be allowed to run.
Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado returned to Venezuela on October 25 after months in exile, her team confirmed to CBS News. Supporters greeted her in Barquisimeto and along her route to Caracas, bringing her back into public political life as her party presses for a presidential election and the right for her to run.
Machado posted ‘I am here. With you’ in Spanish, then announced her arrival in Caracas in another post accompanied by video of supporters greeting her, CBS reported. The Buenos Aires Times, in an AFP report, said she reappeared at Santa Rosa church in Barquisimeto, where supporters cheered her. AFP reporters also witnessed her singing the national anthem with supporters in Guacara.
What Machado’s return means for the election push
Her party wants a presidential election in 2027 and wants Machado to be allowed to stand, according to the AFP report. CBS said Machado and her allies have demanded an election date, while U.S. officials have emphasized economic stabilization first. No presidential election date has been set in the cited reports.
Machado’s senior adviser David Smoalnsky called her return ‘a major step toward a democratic transition and free, fair, and verifiable presidential elections’ in a statement to CBS. His statement sets out the opposition’s goal; it does not establish that the government has agreed to an election.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the conditions that allowed Machado to return resulted directly from U.S.-supported reconciliation talks, CBS reported. He said the United States expects political freedoms to continue to be respected. His account of the talks is an attributed U.S. government position.
Why Machado had been outside Venezuela
Machado left Venezuela covertly in December 2025 in connection with the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony in Norway, CBS reported. Her daughter accepted the prize on her behalf at the December ceremony, according to The Free Press. Machado’s return follows nearly a year outside the country.
The Venezuelan government considers Machado a fugitive and accuses her of calling for military intervention, CBS reported. That accusation remains the government’s allegation. Her public return places her back in the country despite that position, while the question of whether she can stand in a future election remains unresolved.
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Sources and context
- Venezuela opposition leader María Corina Machado returns to country after 10-month exileCBS News; report credits Olivia Gazis and The Associated Press, with AP contribution noted
- María Corina Machado returns to Venezuela from exileBuenos Aires Times; article credited to Leticia Pineda and Margioni Bermúdez, AFP
- María Corina Machado: The Nobel Prize Speech I Couldn’t Give in PersonThe Free Press; by María Corina Machado
AI-assisted article checked against the listed sources. NewsJaws did not conduct interviews or attend the reported events.