File photo: In this photo released by Vente Venezuela Press Office, Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado greets supporters at a church in Barquisimeto, VenezuelaVenezuelan opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize laureate María Corina Machado returned to Venezuela on Sunday after nearly a year in exile. “I am here.

With you,” Machado wrote in Spanish on X, without disclosing how she had re-entered the country or providing details of her whereabouts. Her close ally, exiled opposition leader Edmundo González Urrutia, also confirmed her return in a social media post.

“Venezuela! I am thrilled to announce to you that our leader, my dear María Corina, is on Venezuelan soil,” he wrote, adding that he would return soon.

Machado was later seen at a church in Barquisimeto, the capital of Lara state, about 220 miles west of Caracas. Footage and photographs published by news organisations showed supporters greeting and embracing her during a religious ceremony at the Sanctuary of the Divine Shepherdess.

Machado’s exileMachado left Venezuela covertly in December 2025 to receive the Nobel Peace Prize in Norway. Since then, she has made several attempts to return, but Venezuelan authorities blocked her entry, according to her party and her advisers.

Her return comes amid continuing uncertainty over the country’s political transition following the removal of former president Nicolás Maduro by US forces in January. Machado’s opposition movement is widely believed to have won the 2024 presidential election, although Maduro was declared the winner and refused to hand over power.

González, who stood in the election after Machado was barred from running, has been living in exile. Following Maduro’s ouster, Rodríguez, his former vice-president, assumed the role of interim president with the backing of US president Donald Trump’s administration.

Washington has prioritised economic stabilisation and access to Venezuela’s oil, while Machado and her allies have pressed for a date for fresh presidential elections. The Guardian reported that the Trump administration had opposed Machado’s return, fearing it could complicate its relationship with Rodríguez.

However, Trump told reporters on Sunday that he did not know about Machado’s return, adding that he hoped she was safe. “She’s a very nice woman,” he said, referring to the Nobel Peace Prize medal Machado had given him.