Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado returned to Caracas on Sunday after more than 10 months in exile, drawing large crowds during a transition led by interim president Delcy Rodríguez. According to BBC World, Machado wrote on X on Sunday, "I am here. With you."
Thousands of supporters greeted her in Caracas, waving flags and chanting "freedom" as her convoy of cars and motorcycles made its way to the capital, according to DW. DW reported that AFP saw Machado singing the national anthem in a packed plaza in Guacara.
Earlier in the day, according to BBC World, Machado attended Mass at a church in the state of Lara, surrounded by jubilant supporters. Huge crowds later lined her route through Caracas, the same outlet reported.
BBC World reported that her return came after several earlier efforts to re-enter the country had failed. Machado has said she faced travel restrictions and flight cancellations. She attributed these partly to Trump’s worries that her presence could inflame tensions during the transition, and partly to interference by Rodríguez. These are Machado’s own claims and have not been independently confirmed in the sources available.
Machado left Venezuela to receive the Nobel Peace Prize in Norway. BBC World reported that she escaped the country under cover of darkness. Separately, the background provided to this report states that she had sought refuge in the Argentine embassy in Caracas before being smuggled out with US assistance, facing arrest by the Maduro regime.
The US seized former president Nicolás Maduro in January, a month after Machado escaped Venezuela, according to BBC World. Washington then backed Delcy Rodríguez, Maduro’s deputy, who was sworn in as interim president, the same outlet reported.
Japan Times reported that Machado’s return risks complicating the Trump administration’s strategy for Venezuela. This report was available to us only as a headline and short excerpt, so its full reasoning could not be checked.
Several key details rest on a small number of outlets. BBC World is the source for most of the core facts, including the return itself and the US role in Maduro’s removal. The crowd descriptions are drawn from DW and BBC World, and no official or independent count of the crowds has been published. The exact date of the return is not specified beyond Sunday.
The sources do not include any response to the return from the Trump administration or from Rodríguez’s government. They also do not say what Machado plans to do next, or how her return will affect the transition led by Rodríguez or US policy toward Venezuela.
Sources
This article was written with AI assistance from the published reporting listed above. It is part of the World Brief daily news podcast.