Adnkronos (Adnkronos) –
Venezuelan opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner Maria Corina Machado announced her return to Venezuela after nearly a year in exile. "I'm here. With you," she wrote in Spanish on X. Her ally, former presidential candidate Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia, echoed the message, confirming her return: "Venezuela! I am thrilled to announce that our leader, my dear Maria Corina, is on Venezuelan soil."
Machado viveva in esilio dal dicembre dello scorso anno, dopo aver lasciato il Venezuela per recarsi a Oslo a ritirare il Premio Nobel per la Pace 2025.
Nicolas Maduro, catturato il 3 gennaio dagli Stati Uniti e ora detenuto al Metropolitan Detention Center di Brooklyn, la definiva ”una nazista criminale”. Machado aveva già tentato di tornare in Venezuela nei mesi scorsi, a giugno e a settembre via mare o via aerea, ma le era stato impedito. In Venezuela è accusata di tradimento, terrorismo, cospirazione e omicidio.
Prima degli ostacoli al suo rientro, dall’aprile del 2014 le era stato proibito lasciare il Paese e viveva in clandestinità dalla vittoria di Maduro alle presidenziali. Nel 2015, le era stato impedito di ricandidarsi alle elezioni legislative e nel 2024 a quelle presidenziali, anche se aveva vinto le primarie dell’opposizione con il 90 per cento dei tre milioni di voti totali.
Ha poi sostenuto il candidato Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia, costretto all’esilio.
National coordinator of "Vente," the Freedom Party she co-founded in 2013, she was elected to the National Assembly with the highest number of votes in the 2010-2015 legislative elections. She was expelled from the National Assembly by Speaker Diosdato Cabello after speaking at the Permanent Council of the Organization of American States in March 2014 to denounce the human rights violations of the Maduro regime. In 2017, together with Antonio Ledezma and Diego Arria, supported by a National Council, she founded the "SoyVenezuela" platform, an alliance that has since been joined by many sectors of society committed to restoring the country to democracy.
Machado, born in Caracas in 1967, graduated with a degree in industrial engineering from the Andrés Bello Catholic University and specialized in finance at the Institute of Higher Studies of the Administration. She became involved in politics in 2002, when she founded the NGO Sumate (Join Us) to monitor elections and human rights. She was accused of treason because Sumate received funds from the United States and received death threats. She was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize last year, the Sakharov Prize in 2024, and the Magnitsky Prize previously.
She was nicknamed "la libertadora," in homage to the "liberator" Simon Bolivar, and was banned from public office for 15 years for advocating international sanctions against Venezuela. Machado has consistently promised "change" in Venezuela, governed since 1999 by the Chavista doctrine of former President Hugo Chávez (1999-2013), extended by his heir Nicolas Maduro. A liberal, she supports a market economy and has proposed privatizing the state-owned oil giant Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA), the country's main source of income, whose production has collapsed due to mismanagement and corruption. "We will liberate our country and bring our children home," she said, referring to the 7 million Venezuelans who, according to the United Nations, have left the country in the throes of an interminable economic crisis. The reality of the diaspora affects her directly: her three children – Ana Corina, Henrique, and Ricardo – live abroad.
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