Machado returns to Venezuela as opposition presses for election date

Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado has returned to the country after nearly 10 months abroad, fellow opposition figure Edmundo González said on Sunday 25 October. Her return comes as she and her allies press for a presidential election; no date has been set.

Machado wrote on X, “I am here. With you” (translated from Spanish). Her message did not name a location, but González said explicitly that she was on Venezuelan soil. Neither gave an arrival point or route. Associated Press and El País also reported her return, citing the opposition figures’ announcements.

Machado left Venezuela in December 2025. Barred from standing in the disputed 2024 presidential election, she backed González’s candidacy. Her opposition coalition reaffirmed its support for her leadership earlier this month. Venezuela is now led by acting president Delcy Rodríguez, and no presidential election is scheduled, according to AP.

Machado had made several unsuccessful attempts to return. ANP, in a report carried by Nieuws.nl, attributed those setbacks to the United States. El País has reported US resistance to her return but said no one close to her had publicly identified who prevented the various journeys. In one September attempt, Curaçao refused landing permission for a flight she planned to take from Panama. The island’s aviation authority said the refusal followed a request from “higher up”; NOS reported that it remained unclear who made it.