CARACAS — Venezuelan opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize laureate María Corina Machado announced ON Sunday that she is back in Venezuela. She had spent nearly ten months abroad and, her team says, failed at least seven times to return.

“I am here. With you,” she wrote on X.

Her return comes as Interim President Delcy Rodríguez’s government negotiates a transition with a different opposition faction, backed by the Trump administration.

Machado has not been part of those talks.

The Return

Machado reappeared at the Divina Pastora sanctuary in Barquisimeto, in Lara state, where supporters cheered and she embraced them, Telemundo reported, citing the Associated Press and EFE. A supporter was heard shouting, “Here are your people, María!” in a video shared by her press team. Her party, Vente Venezuela, published images of her entering a church in Santa Rosa, Lara, surrounded by supporters, according to Diario de Pontevedra.

Edmundo González Urrutia, the opposition’s candidate in the 2024 election, confirmed on X that she was on Venezuelan soil and called it “a very important day.” He said he would return “very soon.”

The Unitary Democratic Platform, the main opposition coalition, said it hoped her return would give new momentum to the fight for democracy.

How she entered the country has not been disclosed, but analysts suspect that a coordinated border-crossing likely occurred west along the Colombia-Venezuela border.

ABC reported that the return followed a diplomatic operation involving several countries, with Washington’s knowledge. Other outlets have not confirmed that.

Her advisers say Machado tried to return at least seven times and was blocked each time, according to 14ymedio. Two attempts came in June, after earthquakes hit Venezuela, with trips planned from the United States and Panama. Three came in September, around Rodríguez’s meeting with President Donald Trump in New York, with a sea voyage from Panama reportedly halted by a breakdown and landing permits denied on nearby islands. The government has denied obstructing her.

Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello called the attempts a media spectacle and challenged her to return. Machado’s team accused authorities of deliberately blocking her.

Machado went into hiding after the disputed July 2024 presidential election. The opposition says González won and has published copies of vote tallies, while electoral authorities declared Nicolás Maduro the winner.

Machado left Venezuela clandestinely in December 2025 and was awarded the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize.

In January, U.S. forces captured Maduro and Delcy Rodríguez, his longtime ally, has governed as interim president since, with U.S. backing. Her team says Machado spent her exile mostly in Panama.

Washington is in the process of negotiating with the government on oil, mining and gas, and the two sides have restored diplomatic relations. In August they announced an oil agreement. The U.S. is also backing talks between the government and an opposition delegation led by former lawmaker Dinorah Figuera, covering reform of the Supreme Court and electoral authority, Telemundo reported. No election date has been set.

Last week the U.S. lifted financial sanctions on Jorge Rodríguez, the National Assembly president and the government’s negotiator, according to the same report.

Machado says she will not obstruct the talks and is willing to negotiate. She says any process must recognize the 2024 results and lead to a transition, and she wants presidential elections called before July 2027.

U.S. President Donald Trump recently said it is “too early” for elections, per Diario de Pontevedra. U.S. officials have said economic stabilization must come first.

Rodríguez had not immediately responded to Machado’s retrurn. Before her return, Cabello had said she would not come back by land or sea, Diario de Pontevedra reported. Asked about the return, Trump said he knew nothing about it and hoped she was safe, adding that she is “very pleasant” and gave him her Nobel medal, according to CNN and Reuters.

Last week he said it would be “interesting” if Rodríguez and Machado faced each other in an election.