María Corina Machado, the Venezuelan opposition leader and winner of the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize, said she will come back to Venezuela in the coming weeks, without specifying a date. In a message shared on social media, the politician said one of her objectives would be preparing “for a new and gigantic electoral victory.”
In the same message, Machado called on her supporters to “strengthen the unity of Venezuelans that began with the primaries,” referring to the 2023 effort in which she won the vote aimed at establishing a single opposition candidate to compete against former President Nicolás Maduro. The opposition has described that process as a way to unify its strategy for elections.
Delcy Rodríguez, serving as acting president after the collapse of Maduro’s leadership in a January U.S. military operation in which Maduro and his wife were captured, warned Machado that she “will have to answer” if she returns to the country. The warning underscored the government’s posture toward opposition figures as Machado signaled plans to re-enter Venezuelan politics.
The AP report also said Machado stated that elections will be held in Venezuela. The opposition’s political timeline has been shaped by the events after the July 2024 election, when Maduro was declared the victor and protests erupted that the opposition said were met with widespread repression. The opposition claimed it had credible evidence that the real winner was Edmundo González, who replaced Machado after she was barred from participating.
In Washington, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that any change in Venezuela must go through phases of stabilization, economic recovery and transition, and he did not indicate that elections could be held in the short term. Rubio’s comments came as Machado’s message framed a return in the near term alongside an electoral push.
Machado, 58, has remained a key figure for the opposition and was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize last year for her fight for democratic transition in Venezuela. She later sent her Nobel medal to U.S. President Donald Trump after a U.S. military intervention that, the AP report said, deposited Maduro; Maduro has pleaded not guilty to drug-trafficking-related charges in U.S. courts.