UPDATE 2 - Opposition leader Machado returns to Venezuela after months in exile

UPDATES WITH STATEMENTS BY US SECRETARY OF STATE MARCO RUBIO

By Yasin Gungor

ISTANBUL (AA) - Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado returned to Venezuela on Sunday after spending months in exile in Panama.

“I am here. With you,” Machado wrote on US social media platform X, confirming her return after at least seven reported attempts to re-enter the country were blocked.

Fellow opposition figure Edmundo Gonzalez welcomed her return, writing on X that "our sovereign voice returns with her to lead and guide this process" and pledging to join her on Venezuelan soil soon to pursue a political transition.

David Smolansky, a senior adviser to Machado, said the return is "a major step toward a democratic transition and free, fair, and verifiable presidential elections in the near future."

"We thank President Donald Trump, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the US Government, Congress, and allied governments for their continued leadership and support," he said in a statement.

Asked by reporters about Machado's return, Trump said he was not aware of it, but added: "I hope she's safe."

Rubio said the conditions permitting Machado's safe return are the "direct result of the US supported reconciliation talks," which, he claimed, have led to the release of "hundreds of political prisoners" and allowed exiled figures to return.

Emphasizing that Washington expects the freedoms of all political sectors "to continue to be respected," Rubio urged all domestic factions to back the dialogue, calling the negotiations the "best chance Venezuela has had in thirty years."

Machado, who heads the Vente Venezuela movement and received the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize, had been staying in Panama since late May with the backing of President Jose Raul Mulino.

Her longtime rival, former Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, was captured by US forces in an operation in January. Since then, the US has been working with the acting Venezuelan government to steer the country toward political reconciliation.

Muhammed Yasin Güngör