The opposition returns to the streets in Venezuela after María Corina Machado’s return: ‘She’s coming to step on the accelerator’

It was a long and emotional day for thousands of Venezuelans who could not believe it when they heard on Sunday morning that the opposition leader María Corina Machado had returned to Venezuela. When her message started circulating on cellphones — “I am here. With you.” — thousands of supporters of Machado and opponents of Chavismo began pouring into the streets to follow her slow march to the capital, Caracas, in an epic demonstration of Venezuelans shedding the fear of repression that had been holding them back for so long.Machado, who reportedly entered the country via Colombia, took over 10 hours to reach the capital, flanked by enthusiastic supporters who surrounded her vehicle. The opposition leader did not make any statements, but her mere presence on the streets was enough to drum up enthusiasm among a population that is anxious for change following the U.S. invasion and capture of Nicolás Maduro in January. Speaking from the United States, President Donald Trump said he didn’t know anything about Machado’s return to Venezuela. “I don’t know anything about it, but I think she’s a very nice woman. She gave me her Nobel Prize, so how can I say anything else? And I hope she’s safe, she’s a very nice woman. But we’re doing really well in Venezuela,” he said before a trip to speak at a campaign rally in Michigan. Machado was received by thousands of people in Caracas. The crowds filled up several lanes of one of the country’s main highways as people danced, honked their horns and waved flags. The news had been a surprise to everyone. For many, it was a sign of hope in a year of change and perhaps the beginning of a political transition that is dragging on. Opponents who follow Machado hope the process that began with the dialogue table between the members of the 2015 National Assembly and the interim government can now be accelerated. “Machado is coming to step on the accelerator,” said some of those who were waiting for her. Seferino Guadarrama, 64, a leader of Vente Venezuela, Machado’s party, says he cried when he learned Sunday morning that his “boss” had returned. A granddaughter who joined Machado’s caravan called him from Yaracuy to tell him. “Dinorah [Figuera, an exiled lawmaker who was part of the 2015 Assembly and was recently tapped to negotiate with Chavismo] was moving too slowly,” the activist says. He is celebrating this political milestone far from his town because a year ago he had to hide from political persecution.Hundreds of supporters gathered very close to Fuerte Tiuna, where Nicolás Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores were captured on January 3 during the United States’ Operation Absolute Resolve. That day, celebrations were muted by fear and uncertainty. People now see Machado’s return as an opportunity for an extended celebration. The atmosphere was one of jubilation and hope. “They had us cornered, unable to take to the streets,” Guadarrama says.At least two lanes of the Valle-Coche highway, which serves as the city’s access from the country’s west, were filled with people, motorcycles and parked vehicles. Drivers passing through, including cargo trucks, joined the celebration by honking. People also gathered on the bridges adjacent to the road.The enthusiasm of thousands of Venezuelans mixed in with all the questions regarding her return, and the surprising silence from the government, led by Delcy Rodríguez at the behest of the United States. The street celebrations were not met with repression; on the contrary, the sense of freedom was one that had not been felt for years. Machado advanced on the capital in a clear challege to Chavismo and even to Washington, which had sidelined her in the talks between the government and the opposition.Marisol Morgado, a 64-year-old homemaker, came from the other side of the city to see the leader’s return; Machado had left the country clandestinely last December. “It took me by surprise,” the woman said, holding a flag. “She’s coming to organize it all, to get things working. There are a lot of people who are suffering,” she added, referring to the transition process.Some political leaders also joined the gathering. Héctor Urgelles, secretary of Alianza Bravo Pueblo, a party that is allied with Machado’s, was among those who showed up. “A government’s legitimacy is only achieved through an election. That is why María Corina is coming,” said the politician, noting that people have lost their fear of returning to peaceful protest for change. “Things have changed a lot since January 3 and now we can be in the streets again,” Urgelles added.Loredams Medina, 36, a resident of El Valle, ran out of her house because she wanted to see Machado. As the hours passed, the crowd grew and supporters began to occupy the highway in both directions. The woman was surprised to see such a large opposition demonstration in the west of the city, in the same parish where Maduro began his political career. “I’m very happy; I have the hope that she’s going to speed everything up,” Medina says. By “everything” she means the tasks of the dialogue table, such as appointing the Supreme Court, the new National Electoral Council and calling elections. “But I also feel uncertain about what will happen.”Sign up for our weekly newsletter to get more English-language news coverage from EL PAÍS USA Edition