“I am here. With you.”
With those five words on social media Sunday, María Corina Machado, the Nobel Peace Prize-winning leader of Venezuela’s opposition, announced she was back on Venezuelan soil after more than 10 months in exile.
Opposition leader Edmundo González confirmed it: “our leader, my dear Maria Corina, is on Venezuelan soil.” Her team said it took seven attempts over a few weeks to get her home, Al Jazeera reported.
¡Este día lo vamos a recordar siempre! Juntos alcanzaremos la Libertad. 🇻🇪 https://t.co/WTpT1LChYl
— María Corina Machado (@MariaCorinaYA) October 26, 2026
A homecoming Trump made possible
Machado’s return would have been unthinkable a year ago. She went into hiding after a brief arrest in January 2025, when Nicolás Maduro still held power.
Then the United States acted. In January 2026, the U.S. military seized Maduro in Caracas. Vice President Delcy Rodríguez has served as acting president since then with President Trump’s endorsement, and her government has worked with the administration on reforms and on a deal giving the U.S. control of more than 65 billion barrels’ worth of Venezuelan oil reserves.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio credited U.S.-backed reconciliation talks for the change. Those talks have led to the release of hundreds of political prisoners and the return of opposition figures from exile, according to Al Jazeera.
Machado has made her gratitude plain. Weeks after Maduro’s capture, she presented Trump with her Nobel Peace Prize medal at the White House, calling it recognition of his commitment to freedom.
Asked about her return, Trump said he didn’t know the details but called her “a very nice woman” and said he hoped she was safe.
President Trump on María Corina Machado returning to Venezuela: "I think she’s a very nice woman. She gave me her Nobel prize, so how can I say anything else?" https://t.co/d0OYwjQn0q
— CSPAN (@cspan) October 25, 2026
The unfinished business
The job isn’t done. Rodríguez has stayed in office well beyond the 90-day period she was authorized to serve. She promised elections at the United Nations General Assembly in September but has not set a date, and the U.S. says Venezuela is not yet ready to vote.
Venezuelans are making their voices heard. Last week, thousands marched in Caracas and other cities demanding free elections, in the first nationwide opposition protest in nearly two years. The opposition is widely believed to have won the disputed 2024 election.
The Associated Press framed her return against “doubts over democracy.” And in January, Trump said Machado “doesn’t have the support within or the respect within the country,” though the two have grown closer since.
The bottom line
For years, Venezuelans lived under Maduro’s socialist regime, which filled its prisons with political opponents and forced the opposition’s leader into hiding. Diplomacy alone never moved him. Trump removed him, and now the woman who led the fight against him is walking free in her own country.
That is what American strength buys. Political prisoners are going home. Exiles are coming back. A Nobel laureate who once had to hide is greeting crowds.
The next step is the one every Venezuelan deserves: a date for free and fair elections. Trump cleared the road. Now Caracas needs to let its people walk down it.