Mara Corina Machado Returns to Venezuela

Venezuela’s most popular opposition leader, María Corina Machado, has returned to her country after nearly a year in exile, according to a spokesman.The spokesman, David Smolansky, in a statement, called the return “a major step toward a democratic transition and free, fair, and verifiable presidential elections in the near future.”Ms.Machado’s efforts to return to Venezuela have been fraught with political tension in recent months.

The former member of Venezuela’s Legislature has led the opposition for the past three years, spending much of that time living in hiding inside her country, trying to avoid arrest.She fled last year to receive the Nobel Peace Prize.Then, after the United States captured Venezuela’s autocrat, Nicolás Maduro, in January in a raid on Caracas, the Trump administration chose to elevate another member of his repressive government, Delcy Rodríguez, to the presidency.Tensions between the Trump administration and Ms.

Machado have been high since.Ms.Machado has repeatedly promised to return to her country and push for elections, telling The New York Times in a recent interview that her homecoming would arrive “sooner than you would expect.”In a message on X at 11:31 a.m.

Venezuela time, Ms.Machado wrote: “I am here.

With you all.”Her party also shared images of her in a church in Lara State, in the western part of the country, indicating that the photographs confirmed her arrival in Venezuela.On Sunday after her announcement, President Trump told reporters in Washington: “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, she’s a very nice woman.

But we’re doing really well in Venezuela.”Mr.Smolansky, the aide to Ms.

Machado, wrote in his statement: “We thank President Donald Trump, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the U.S.Government, Congress, and allied governments for their continued leadership and support.”“Ms.

Machado returns to stand with...