Nicknamed “liberator” by her followers, Nobel Peace Prize winner and opposition leader María Corina Machado returned to Venezuela after almost a year in exile, determined to lead the democratic transition and become president of her country.
Machado, 60, positioned himself as the most popular political figure in Venezuela. He is the soul of the opposition and awakens an almost religious fervor among his supporters.
Criticized by left-wing factors, Machado He reaped his success thanks to coherence since his beginnings in Venezuelan politics.
Engineer by profession and mother of three childrenMachado began his political path in 2002, when he created the organization join inwhich promoted a referendum to revoke the presidency of the late Hugo Chávez (1999-2013).
As a legislator, she confronted Chávez when the president was untouchable. “To expropriate is to steal“, he claimed in his annual accountability to Parliament in 2012.
In the 2023 opposition primaries he swept more than 90% of the votes. But she was politically disqualified and could not run as a candidate.
The Supreme Court judge who made that decision, Bárbara César Siero, confessed to AFP a few weeks ago that she had been forced to sign that veto because two of her military brothers and a sister-in-law had been detained.
After that declaration, the largest opposition coalition in the country demanded to immediately eliminate the disqualification and ratified Machado as its leader in a “Great National Agreement.”
It also demands setting the date of presidential elections for 2027.
“The Liberator”
In a frontal style, Machado promises “change” in Venezuela through free elections.
She earned the nickname “liberator” in honor of the independence hero Simón Bolívar, after touring the country during the campaign for the July 28, 2024 elections.
Although her candidacy was vetoed by the regime of the already captured by the US, Nicolás Maduro (2013-2026), she supported Edmundo González Urrutia as the opposition candidate, a until then little-known diplomat who agreed to replace her.
Wearing jeans and a white shirt, Machado starred in the campaign, traveling through Venezuela by car and motorcycle, because Chavismo did not allow him to board a plane.
At each stop she was greeted by enthusiastic crowds. Screams, tears and pushing were common among the fury caused by his appearances.
It was she who urged her followers to collect the minutes from each polling station during the presidential elections, to “demonstrate” the victory of the opposition.
After Maduro’s controversial re-election in the elections, Machado denounced fraud.
With this record, he claimed the victory of González Urrutia with 67% of the votes.
In contrast, the electoral authority never published the detailed results supporting Maduro’s re-election.
The controversy sparked protests against Maduro, followed by a wave of repression that left 28 dead and more than 2,400 arrested, including dozens of Machado’s collaborators.
González Urrutia was forced to go into exile in September 2024, while Machado opted to go underground.
Long awaited return
He left his hiding place in December 2025 with a movie escape to travel to Oslo to receive his Nobel Prize.
After Maduro’s capture in a US operation in January, those hoping for Machado’s quick return became disillusioned.
After a brief stay in Washington he ended up settling in Panama.
Analysts consider that his return was vetoed by Washington, although US authorities have denied this.
While Machado offered his Nobel Prize to President Donald Trump, the American has praised Delcy Rodríguez several times for her management as interim president and in September he met with her in New York.
Machado tried in vain at least seven times to return to Venezuela, according to sources from his party.
“Until the End!
He defends the market economy and proposes the privatization of the state-owned Petróleos de Venezuela (PDVSA), the main source of income for the country with the largest reserves in the world, but with decreased production due to mismanagement and corruption.
She criticized the unprecedented oil agreement reached in August by Trump and Rodríguez, who according to her, heads an “illegitimate regime.”
Machado was not invited to participate in the dialogue between the opposition and the government, promoted by Washington, but she assured that she would not hinder the process.
