María Corina Machado returns to Venezuela, vows to steer opposition transition

After more than a year of traveling abroad, María Corina Machado re-entered Venezuela at a mass in Barquisimeto’s Santa Rosa church, a site linked to the popular Divina Pastora devotion. Her emotional embrace of crowds was meant to signal that hope remains alive and that she can still be the catalyst for change. The opposition figure attributes her safe return to her own team’s effort to clear political and logistical obstacles, rejecting claims of a negotiated pact with either the Rodríguez government or U.S. officials.

Nonetheless, she acknowledges a shift in Washington’s stance, noting that the United States no longer blocks her movements. Machado’s immediate agenda focuses on rallying citizens, forming a unified popular organization, forging a wide-range opposition alliance and steering a national agreement that could lead to presidential elections in the first half of 2027. Observers warn that she will have to navigate a fragile balance between U.S. influence, the regime’s resistance and the dire humanitarian crisis.