Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado announces imminent return

Nobel Peace Prize laureate and Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado announced Monday that she plans to return to her home country “very soon” to assist with the catastrophic fallout of twin earthquakes that devastated the nation last week.

“The time has come. It is my duty to stand with my people,” Machado said in a video posted on US social media company X. “We need to be together, to embrace each other, to cry and mourn together, but also to give each other strength in these difficult times.”

The opposition figurehead stressed that political divisions must be set aside during the immediate aftermath, noting that the priority remains saving trapped civilians and providing comfort to the thousands left displaced.

“We pray that God gives us the strength to move forward and do our work,” she added.

Machado accused Acting President Delcy Rodriguez’s government of closing the airspace to prevent her entry and said she was in Panama.

“My dear Venezuelans, I am in Panama City, from where I had planned to travel to Venezuela. The regime closed our country’s airspace to try to prevent me from entering,” she said.

The opposition leader also asserted that thousands of Venezuelans inside and outside the country have tried to mobilize to support the victims of the quake, but denounced the restrictions imposed by authorities that are hindering the arrival of humanitarian aid and specialized personnel.

“The regime wants to block thousands of compatriots who want to go and help from Venezuela, just as it has tried to block the generous work of thousands upon thousands of citizens who distribute food and medicine around the country, and just as it has blocked the travel of international rescue teams stranded in airports,” she stated.

The opposition leader’s statement comes as international urban search-and-rescue contingents enter a critical phase to locate survivors trapped beneath collapsed concrete infrastructure. By Saturday, official reports confirmed the death toll had surged past 1,719, with tens of thousands missing.

Machado’s path back to Venezuela remains complicated by regional geopolitics. On Sunday, it was known that the former congresswoman had already attempted to orchestrate an emergency re-entry into Venezuela immediately following the tremors on Wednesday.

She has been outside the country since December, when she departed in a highly clandestine operation to accept the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo, a medal she subsequently presented to US President Donald Trump.

Following the January operation in which US forces captured President Nicolas Maduro, Machado intended to return to assume a domestic role. Trump, however, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, reportedly advised her against it due to volatile security dynamics on the ground.