Venezuela's Machado says she's in close talks with US over return to Venezuela

Fabiola Zerpa, Bloomberg News on Apr 18, 2026

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Venezuela’s main opposition leader María Corina Machado said she’s “coordinating” her return to the country with the U.S., without giving a date.

Machado, speaking at a press conference in Madrid on Saturday, said she’s in “permanent” contact with officials in the Trump administration and “trusts” the phased process Washington is pushing in her home country.

“My return to Venezuela is intended to ensure that we channel Venezuelans’ anguish and yearnings for democracy in a civic and organized manner, centered around an electoral process,” Machado said.

Conversations with the U.S. have been “detailed and frank” and kept “private” in agreement, Machado said, adding that this also applies to her opinion on certain issues, when requested.

Machado later held a meeting with Isabel Díaz Ayuso, Madrid’s regional president and one of Sánchez fiercest critics, before speaking in front of thousands of flag-waving Venezuelans in the center of town, who chanted “Valiente, valiente” (brave).

“Today is the beginning of our return home,” she told the crowd. “No tyranny will ever set foot again in Venezuela.”

Peace prize

She thanked U.S. President Donald Trump for “risking the lives” of U.S. citizens to secure change in Venezuela, and defended her offering of the Nobel Peace Prize to him as a “mandate” of the Venezuelan people.

In early March, Machado said she would return within “the next few weeks,” following Nicolás Maduro’s Jan. 3 capture by U.S. forces.

Her arrival would test interim President Delcy Rodríguez’s tolerance for dissent and the U.S.’s commitment to back the opposition leader it once pledged to protect. Machado had stayed largely in hiding after the 2024 election that Maduro claimed he’d won and the world acknowledged her party won.

Rodríguez has moved swiftly to approve new energy legislation and release political prisoners, welcoming U.S. officials and companies aiming to open its economy.

Still, Machado said Saturday that Rodriguez’s government represented “chaos, violence and terror.”

Consequences

Machado said Rodríguez is only taking steps to dismantle corruption in the government to comply with US demands and not because of a “change of heart.”

“They are very well aware of consequences from the U.S. if they fail to deliver,” she said.

Machado said “free and fair” elections are key to secure stability and peace for an “orderly transition” in the country. “Venezuela’s society is clamoring for an electoral calendar and specific dates,” she said.

Machado has been touring cities in Europe, meeting French President Emmanuel Macron, Dutch Prime Minister Rob Jetten and Italy’s premier Giorgia Meloni this week. Machado declined an invitation to meet Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, who has signaled support for Rodriguez.

Since removing Maduro from power in early January, the U.S. government has moved to ease oil and financial sanctions in Venezuela, as it looks to help reinsert the country into the financial markets and secure its oil production amid the energy disruption caused by the Iran war.