⚡María Corina Machado, opposition leader to the former Venezuelan government and Nobel Peace Prize winner, returned to her country on Sunday, 3 Aban, after about ten months of exile.

This is Ms. Machado’s first appearance in Venezuela since the U.S. Army removed Nicolás Maduro, the then-president of Venezuela, from power. Since Maduro’s arrest in January 2026, Delcy Rodríguez, the vice president, has taken charge of power as interim president of Venezuela.

Machado and her allies are calling for a date to be set for presidential elections in Venezuela.

Machado was briefly detained in January 2025 following protests against Nicolás Maduro’s inauguration ceremony, and then lived in hiding inside Venezuela for 11 months before leaving the country. That same year, she received the Nobel Peace Prize for her peaceful struggle against Maduro’s authoritarian government, and presented that award to the President of the United States.