González confirms arrival and says he will return soon
Asked by reporters on Sunday about her return, Trump said: “I don’t know anything about it, but I think she’s a very nice woman. She gave me her Nobel prize, so how can I say anything else?” He added: “I hope she’s safe. She’s a very nice woman. But we’re doing very well in Venezuela.”
Edmundo González, Machado’s close ally who is in exile, confirmed her arrival and said he too would soon return. He posted on social media: “Venezuela! I am thrilled to announce to you that our leader, my dear María Corina, is on Venezuelan soil.” He added: “Today is a very important day for Venezuelans. Our sovereign voice returns with her to lead and guide this process!”
Machado, 59, wrote on X on Sunday lunchtime: “I’m here. With you.” The Guardian reported that she had returned to Venezuela almost a year after leaving the country to receive the Nobel peace prize. It was not immediately clear how she had managed to return.
The Guardian’s accompanying photograph, credited to Jim Lo Scalzo/EPA, showed Machado during a January visit to Washington, D.C. Its caption said she had exited her home country last year to receive the Nobel peace prize.
Social media footage showed Machado in Barquisimeto, the capital of Lara state, about 220 miles west of Caracas. Images showed her surrounded by supporters holding mobile phones in a church called the Sanctuary of the Divine Shepherdess.
Machado slipped out of Venezuela last December, a few weeks before Maduro’s capture. Machado has reportedly made more than half a dozen failed attempts to return in recent months, according to The Guardian, including after the devastating earthquake that hit the northern coast in June.
The Trump administration had reportedly opposed Machado’s return, according to The Guardian, because it believed Machado’s presence would complicate the close relationship it had struck up with interim president Delcy Rodríguez since the January operation that captured Maduro, Rodríguez’s former boss. The Guardian described Machado and Rodríguez as political rivals.
After Maduro was seized, many had expected Trump to give Machado his blessing to take power. Her movement is widely believed to have beaten Maduro in the 2024 presidential election, but Maduro refused to hand over power.
Instead, The Guardian reported that Trump had supported Rodríguez, Maduro’s vice-president, who now governs a country the outlet described as widely seen as a U.S. protectorate.
The Guardian also reported that Machado had repeatedly praised Trump for launching the operation that captured Maduro and had given him her 2025 Nobel peace prize medal. The outlet said the medal recognized her peaceful challenge to Venezuela’s government.