Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, who pipped Donald Trump to win 2025 Nobel Peace Prize, returns home after a year in exile

Published: 14:12 EDT, 25 October 2026 | Updated: 14:33 EDT, 25 October 2026 Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, who pipped Donald Trump to the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize, has returned home after nearly a year in exile.'I'm here. With you all,' she wrote on social media early on Sunday, addressing her fellow countrymen. Photographs showed Machado being enthusiastically greeted by supporters in a church in Lara in central-western Venezuela. However, her return risks straining ties with the US Trump administration, who captured the country's then-incumbent President Nicolás Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores in a raid back in January. Trump and his team selected Maduro's deputy, Delcy Rodríguez, as interim president. She went on to sign a favourable oil deal with the US in August.The American strike against President Maduro came only a month after Machado travelled to Norway to receive the Nobel Peace Prize for what judges called 'her efforts to advance democracy in Venezuela'. She was initially barred by Maduro's government from exiting Venezuela but secretly left in late 2025 to receive the award, after spending more than a year living mostly in hiding. It is not clear what Machado's plans are now she is back on Venezuelan soil, or how she made it back into the country, but she has said in the past she would run for president again if new elections were held. Opposition leader Maria Corina Machado gestures upon arriving at a church in Lara, Venezuela on October 25, 2026 after returning to the country following a year in exile Supporters greet and take photographs of Ms Machado inside the church on October 25, 2026Her return was celebrated by her ally Edmundo González Urrutia, who ran as opposition presidential candidate in 2024 in her stead. He called her the country's 'sovereign voice'. He wrote on social media: 'Venezuela! I am thrilled to announce to you that our leader, my dear Maria Corina, is on Venezuelan soil. 'Today is a very important day for Venezuelans. Our sovereign voice returns to lead and guide this process! 'Very soon I will be with you and with her so that our country truly advances toward freedom.' In 2023 Machado announced her intention to run for president the following year, winning an independent presidential primary to decide the opposition's candidate with more than 90 per cent of the vote.However, she was barred from running for office by the Maduro administration, who accused her of fraud and tax violations. Machado has consistently said the allegations against her were ideologically motivated. Her desire to return had caused friction in Washington, with US officials asking her to delay her trip, it was reported in June.President Donald Trump has repeatedly expressed support for interim President Delcy Rodriguez and hailed deals on oil production and other business ventures by US companies in the South American country. The US President said in September that it was too soon to consider democratic elections in Venezuela. Demonstrators hold up a sign reading 'Elections now!' during a protest in Caracas, Venezuela on October 22, 2026 International energy firms committed last month to expanding projects in the country in a signing ceremony overseen by Rodriguez and US Energy Secretary Chris Wright.Machado has said only a 'serious, democratic government' can provide the stability needed by investors. In June, she said she would do whatever it took to come home and help the survivors of devastating twin earthquakes that month, which killed at least 6,500 people and left thousands missing. A faction of the opposition and the interim government held their latest session of talks this month, which aim to remake the top court and electoral council, among other goals, ahead of eventual elections. They do not include Machado's political movement.