Key takeaways
- María Corina Machado announced on X on October 25 that she is back in Venezuela, and Edmundo González confirmed it.
- Her route is unconfirmed, but local media published images of her at a morning mass at the Divina Pastora sanctuary in Barquisimeto.
- As of October 25, no response from Acting President Delcy Rodríguez's government had been published in the coverage reviewed, and Machado's camp backs July 24, 2027.
Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado announced on Sunday, October 25, that she is back in Venezuela. She posted on the social platform X: "I am here. With you." ("Estoy aquí. Con ustedes.") She gave no details of her entry route or location. She had been outside the country for more than 10 months.
Opposition figure Edmundo González Urrutia confirmed on X that she is on Venezuelan territory. He wrote: "Venezuela! I am extremely excited to announce to you that our leader, my dear Maria Corina, is on Venezuelan territory." He added: "Very soon I will be with you and with her so that our country can truly move toward freedom." He gave no date for his own arrival. CNN reported that opposition figures confirmed she is inside the country but gave no further details, including on her route or location.
What is claimed about her arrival
Machado has not described how she entered. ABC, the Spanish newspaper for which David Alandete is a correspondent, reported that she returned through a multi-country diplomatic operation, and that the White House did not oppose her return. He also reported that she planned to appear in public at the Sanctuary of the Divina Pastora in Barquisimeto, in Lara state. Later on Sunday, local outlets including Contrapunto and La Verdad published images of her at the morning mass there. Newsmax claimed she crossed via Colombia, though Bloomberg reported that she gave no details on how she entered Venezuela. As of October 25, no response from the government of Acting President Delcy Rodríguez had been published in the coverage reviewed.
Machado left Venezuela clandestinely on December 9, 2025. She had spent nearly 16 months in hiding after the disputed July 2024 presidential election, and she travelled to Oslo to receive the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize. Her advisers told CNN of at least seven earlier unsuccessful return attempts, and El País reported that they were made over the previous three months, by boat, commercial and private flights and overland, from Virginia in the United States, Panama and Curaçao. Crisis.Zone examined who may be blocking her return in September.
Observers are reading: how Machado's presence on Venezuelan soil tests the interim government, Washington and the talks that have excluded her.
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Machado's return and the election question
The confirmed facts are still narrow. Machado says she is in Venezuela, González says the same, and local media showed her at a mass in Barquisimeto. As of 17:50 CET, no response from Rodríguez's government had been published in the coverage reviewed.
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