Back from exile, Venezuela's Machado ready to meet interim President Rodríguez
After more than ten months in exile, Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado is back in Caracas. Her spokeswoman says she is willing to talk to Delcy Rodríguez as well.
Archive image · Photo: Alexcocopro / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped and resized)
Venezuelan opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize laureate María Corina Machado has made a surprise return home after more than ten months in exile. Thousands of supporters lined the roughly 400-kilometer route from Barquisimeto to Caracas on Sunday, AFP reported. According to The New York Times, she entered from Colombia.
On Monday her spokeswoman Claudia Macero told broadcaster Unión Radio that Machado was willing to sit down not only with interim President Delcy Rodríguez but "with whoever she has to." U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio called the return a "direct result" of the U.S.-backed reconciliation talks.
Rodríguez has led the country since the U.S. military operation that captured Nicolás Maduro. No election date has been set. Machado is demanding elections by July 2027 at the latest and plans to run for president. President Donald Trump said he had not known about her return and added: "I hope she's safe."