Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, who narrowly beat Donald Trump to win the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize, has returned to her home country after almost a year in exile.
“I’m here. With you all,” she wrote on social media early Sunday, addressing fellow Venezuelans.
Images showed enthusiastic supporters welcoming Machado at a church in Lara, in central-western Venezuela.
Her return could nevertheless place further strain on relations with the US administration of Donald Trump, whose forces captured Venezuela’s then-president Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, during a raid in January.
Trump and his team installed Maduro’s deputy, Delcy Rodríguez, as interim president. In August, she went on to sign an oil agreement favourable to the United States.
The US operation against Maduro came just one month after Machado travelled to Norway to accept the Nobel Peace Prize, awarded for what judges described as “her efforts to advance democracy in Venezuela”.
Maduro’s government had initially prevented Machado from leaving Venezuela. She eventually departed secretly in late 2025 to collect the award, having spent more than a year largely in hiding.
Machado’s next steps remain unclear, as does the route she took to re-enter Venezuela. She has previously said she would seek the presidency again if fresh elections were held.
Opposition leader Maria Corina Machado gestures as she arrives at a church in Lara, Venezuela, on October 25, 2026, after returning to the country following a year in exile
Supporters greet Ms Machado and take photographs inside the church on October 25, 2026
Her return was welcomed by her ally Edmundo González Urrutia, who stood as the opposition’s presidential candidate in 2024 in her place. He described Machado as Venezuela’s “sovereign voice”.
“Venezuela! I am thrilled to announce to you that our leader, my dear Maria Corina, is on Venezuelan soil,” he wrote on social media.
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“Today is a very important day for Venezuelans. Our sovereign voice returns to lead and guide this process!
“Very soon I will be with you and with her so that our country truly advances towards freedom.”
Machado announced in 2023 that she would seek the presidency the following year. She won the opposition’s independent primary, held to select its candidate, with more than 90 per cent of the vote.
The Maduro administration later barred her from standing for office, accusing her of fraud and tax violations. Machado has consistently maintained that the allegations were politically motivated.
Her determination to return had already created tensions in Washington, with US officials reportedly asking her in June to postpone the trip.
President Donald Trump has repeatedly voiced support for interim President Delcy Rodríguez and praised oil-production agreements and other business deals involving US companies in Venezuela.
In September, the US president said it was too early to consider holding democratic elections in Venezuela.
Demonstrators hold a sign reading “Elections now!” during a protest in Caracas, Venezuela, on October 22, 2026
International energy firms committed last month to expanding projects in the country in a signing ceremony overseen by Rodriguez and US Energy Secretary Chris Wright.
Machado has said only a ‘serious, democratic government’ can provide the stability needed by investors.
In June, she said she would do whatever it took to come home and help the survivors of devastating twin earthquakes that month, which killed at least 6,500 people and left thousands missing.
A faction of the opposition and the interim government held their latest session of talks this month, which aim to remake the top court and electoral council, among other goals, ahead of eventual elections. They do not include Machado’s political movement.