Machado speaks out in first interview since returning to Venezuela, amid deepening doubts over democracy under Maduro
María Corina Machado, who posted "I am here. With you," on X as her party shared photos of her in a church in Lara State, returning to Venezuela after months in exile to demand new elections.
María Corina Machado, 59, has given her first interview since arriving home after nearly ten months in exile, as questions mount over the country's democratic future. She had slipped back into Venezuela by private flight from Panama to Colombia, then crossed overland, with crowds in Barquisimeto shouting 'Freedom!' before a caravan carried her to the capital. President Donald Trump said he knew nothing about it: 'She gave me her Nobel Prize, so how can I say anything else?' Interim president Delcy Rodríguez has overstayed her mandate with no election scheduled.
US officials had asked Machado at least once to postpone her homecoming.
She was blocked three times in 24 hours trying to re-enter in September.
Trump says the US has 'total control of Venezuela' while taking out millions of barrels of oil.
