Venezuela’s opposition leader Machado ‘will return to the country in the coming weeks’

Venezuelan opposition leader and winner of the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize Maria Corina Machado said on Sunday that she will return to Venezuela in the coming weeks and that elections will be held in the South American country.Machado did not set a date for her return but said one of the objectives will be to prepare “for a new and gigantic electoral victory”.In a message shared on social media, the politician called on her supporters to “strengthen the unity of Venezuelans that began with the primaries”, a reference to the 2023 process in which she won the vote aimed at establishing a single candidate to compete at the polls against former President Nicolas Maduro.Acting President Delcy Rodriguez – in power since Maduro and his wife were captured in a US military operation in January – has warned that Machado “will have to answer” if she returns to the country.US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said that change in Venezuela must go through phases of stabilisation, economic recovery and transition. He has not indicated that elections could be held in the short term.The 58-year-old politician, a key figure in the Venezuelan opposition, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize last year for her fight for democratic transition in Venezuela.