Venezuela: Oppositionelle Machado kehrt überraschend nach Venezuela zurück

Düsseldorf, Salvador. Venezuelan opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize laureate María Corina Machado returned to her home country on Sunday, sharing the news on social media. She wrote on the X platform, "I am here. With you." Shortly after, former presidential candidate Edmundo González Urrutia confirmed her arrival, stating, "Today is an important day for Venezuelans."

They also plan to return soon. Venezuelan media showed images of Machado giving a public performance in a church in the central city of Barquisimeto. She had tried to return to Venezuela at least seven times in the past months, using private planes, commercial flights, ships, and land routes. Flights were canceled at the last minute, boats sank, and other attempts failed without explanation.

However, Machado, 59, managed to return to her homeland. She had left her hiding place in Venezuela in early December 2025 to receive the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo. Prior to that, she had been hiding for a year and a half from the authoritarian regime's security forces. Afterwards, she mostly resided in the United States and Panama.