Machado Returns

María Corina Machado walked back into Venezuela on Sunday, nearly ten months after she went underground. She announced the move herself, in a social media post, according to NPR.

A church first. Worshippers packed around her inside the Church of Santa Rosa in Lara state, in western Venezuela, where her campaign team said she first appeared, NPR reported.

The timing challenges Delcy Rodríguez directly. Rodríguez took power in January after U.S. forces captured former President Nicolás Maduro, and she was sworn in with the backing of the Trump administration, NPR reported. She later signed an oil deal with the United States, according to BBC News.

Washington has sidelined Machado anyway, despite her standing as the opposition's leading figure, NPR reported. Machado wants elections called soon. Washington says Venezuela must stabilize first.

On Thursday, Oct. 22, her supporters packed into Caracas to demand officials set an election date, NPR reported.

Her road back started in hiding. Machado went underground in January 2025, after a brief detention following a protest. Then she slipped out of the country in a clandestine escape, according to NPR. In December, she resurfaced in Norway to accept the Nobel Peace Prize for her peaceful challenge to Maduro's government.

Edmundo González Urrutia confirmed her arrival on X. He ran against Maduro in the disputed 2024 presidential election and lives in exile in Spain. "I am thrilled to announce to you that our leader, my dear María Corina, is on Venezuelan soil," he wrote, according to BBC News.

Something bigger than politics, he called it. In a separate post reported by NPR, González described it as "a very important day for Venezuelans," and said he expects to join Machado soon so the country can "truly advance towards freedom."

Trump, for his part, said he was caught off guard. Speaking to reporters Sunday as he left the White House, he said he hadn't known about Machado's return beforehand. He called her "a very nice woman" and said she had given him her Nobel Prize, NPR reported.

"I hope she's safe," Trump said. The situation in Venezuela, he added, was going well.

González closed his message with a vow. "This is until the end," he wrote, according to NPR.