Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado plans to return to the country as soon as possible, Bloomberg reported, citing sources.
According to the agency’s interlocutors, many American officials warned Machado that her return might spark a clash with the current authorities and distract attention from rescue efforts after the largest earthquake that killed more than 1,400 people.
But sources say that there is no consensus in the Trump administration. On the contrary, some of its representatives, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio, support the idea of Machado’s return. However, Machado is urged not to rush, as returning too soon could lead to increased political polarization and destabilize the country.
Machado’s return, as Bloomberg notes, will present Venezuela’s interim President Delcy Rodriguez with a choice: either embrace her main political rival in a show of national unity, or face accusations that her government is narrowing political space at a time of national catastrophe.
María Corino Machado was a member of the Venezuelan parliament and ran for president in 2012. In 2024, when Nicolas Maduro was re-elected for another term, she was one of the leaders of the protest against his government. For ten years, Machado was banned from leaving Venezuela. After the protests, she spent nearly a year in hiding, evading an arrest warrant, and secretly left Venezuela in the fall of 2025.
In October 2025, Machado won the Nobel Peace Prize that Donald Trump had hoped to receive. The award was given to her with the words “for her tireless work to defend the democratic rights of the people of Venezuela and to struggle to achieve a just and peaceful transition from dictatorship to democracy.”
In January 2026, the United States ousted Nicolas Maduro. Machado said the opposition is ready to take power in Venezuela, but Trump said it would be difficult for her to become the country’s leader because she has “no support and no respect” inside Venezuela. Sources told The Washington Post that Trump did not support Machado because she did not award him the Nobel Prize. Machado later gave her Peace Prize medal to Trump (although the Nobel Committee noted that the award could not be transferred).