A staunch supporter of democracy, Machado won an independent presidential primary election – held outside the Maduro government’s official election authority – in 2023, earning more than 90% of the vote.
Despite winning the primary, Maduro’s government barred Machado from running for office, accusing her of fraud and tax violations. Machado denied the allegations, calling them politically motivated. She spent her final days in the country hiding in safehouses before her fleeing to Norway to accept the Nobel Prize.
In the 2024 election, Machado’s ally González ran in her place against Maduro.
The electoral authority, which is closely aligned with the government, declared Maduro the winner without making detailed voting tallies public.
The opposition argued that González won the election, not Maduro, uploading copies of the voting tallies as evidence.
Maduro was removed from the country by US forces in January, and is currently jailed in New York where he faces drugs, weapons and torture charges. He has pleaded not guilty.
A spokesman for Machado called her return “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,” her spokesperson, David Smolansky, added.
Speaking to reporters on Sunday, Trump said, “I don’t know anything about” her return, and added that he hoped she was “safe”.
“I think she’s a very nice woman. She gave me her Nobel Prize, so how can I say anything else? And I hope she’s safe,” he said.
In January, Machado visited the White House and gifted her Nobel prize award to Trump. The committee that issues the prize had said “it cannot be revoked, shared, or transferred to others”.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio praised his country’s role in securing her return through political reconciliation talks.
“The conditions allowing for the safe return of Ms Machado to Venezuela is the direct result of the US supported reconciliation talks which has already seen hundreds of political prisoners freed and hundreds of political opposition figures return from exile,” he posted on X.
He added: “We expect all political actors to support these talks which represent the best chance Venezuela has had in thirty years to peacefully achieve not just a free and fair election but an enduring democracy.”