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Venezuelan opposition leader María Machado returns after months in exile
She returned after more than 10 months in exile and plans to press for a presidential vote, meet earthquake survivors and political prisoners.
After more than 10 months in exile, Venezuelan opposition leader and Nobel laureate María Corina Machado returned to Venezuela on Sunday, entering a political landscape reshaped by the United States without her involvement.
Machado attempted to re-enter Venezuela seven times over previous months without success, including failed efforts in June during earthquake relief and three denials in September while acting President Delcy Rodríguez attended the United Nations General Assembly in New York.
Following President Nicolás Maduro's January ousting, the United States began steering Venezuela toward democratic transition through the acting government, though the process excluded Machado and opposition candidate Edmundo González Urrutia.
In late August, President Donald Trump announced a U.S. agreement to take majority control of more than 65 billion barrels of Venezuelan oil reserves, which Machado questioned in a video statement as signed by an illegitimate regime.
Trump claimed Machado 'does not have the support or the respect within the country' to lead, while the acting government has yet to announce a date for elections promised at the General Assembly.
Machado has lived in exile since she secretly left the country in December 2025. She is considered the leading political opponent of President Nicolás Maduro, who was abducted by the United States in January, and his successor Delcy Rodríguez.
39 minutes ago·Amsterdam, Netherlands (Kingdom of the)
The leader of the Venezuelan opposition, María Corina Machado, returned to the country in a tense political context, after more than 10 months spent in exile, reports BBC.