CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — María Corina Machado has long been the face of resistance to Venezuela’s ruling party, in power for 27 years.
asserted
Machado → rule → years
Now, after months in exile, she has returned to the South American country to push for a presidential election.
asserted
she → return → election
Machado, the opposition leader who prompted millions of Venezuelans to reject President Nicolás Maduro in the 2024 election, reappeared in the country on Sunday.
asserted
who → prompt → Sunday
She had left Venezuela in December to travel to Norway, where she was honored with the Nobel Peace Prize, and remained abroad, spending time in Washington and touring several countries.
asserted
she → leave → countries
Before leaving Venezuela, Machado had been in hiding since Jan. 9, 2025, when she was briefly detained after joining supporters during an anti-government protest in the capital, Caracas.
asserted
she → leave → capital
Weeks after her departure, the United States military captured Maduro in a stunning operation in Caracas.
asserted
military → capture → Caracas
In December, hours after waving from the balcony of a Norwegian hotel to a cheering crowd gathered outside, Machado told reporters that she would continue the fight for her homeland’s democracy and promised to return soon.
asserted
she → wave → democracy
“My return will be when we believe the security conditions are right, and it won’t depend on whether or not the regime leaves,” she said.
asserted
she → believe → ?
‘An eagle does not hunt a fly’
asserted
eagle → hunt → fly
Machado, an industrial engineer and daughter of a steel magnate, began challenging the ruling party in 2004, when the nongovernmental organization she co-founded, Súmate, promoted a referendum to recall then-President Hugo Chávez.
asserted
organization → challenge → Chávez
The initiative failed, and Machado and other Súmate executives were charged with conspiracy.
asserted
Machado → fail → conspiracy
She drew the anger of Chávez and his allies the following year for her Oval Office meeting with then-U. S. President George W. Bush.
asserted
She → draw → Bush
Chávez considered Bush an adversary.
asserted
Bush → consider → ?
Her full transformation into a politician would come in 2010, when she was elected to a seat in the National Assembly, receiving more votes than any aspiring lawmaker ever.
asserted
she → come → lawmaker
It was from this position that she boldly interrupted Chávez as he addressed the legislature and called his expropriation of businesses theft.
asserted
he → interrupt → businesses
“An eagle does not hunt a fly,” he responded.
asserted
he → hunt → fly
The exchange is seared in voters’ memories.
asserted
exchange → sear → memories
Machado has long aspired to be president
Machado sought Venezuela’s presidency for the first time in 2012, but she finished third in the primary race to be the candidate for the Democratic Unity Roundtable.
asserted
she → aspire → Roundtable
The National Assembly ousted Machado in 2014 and, months later, the Comptroller General’s Office barred her from public office for a year, citing an alleged omission on her asset declaration form.
asserted
Office → oust → form
That same year, the government accused her of being involved in an alleged plot to kill Maduro, who succeeded Chávez after his 2013 death.
asserted
who → accuse → death
Machado denied the charge, calling it an attempt to silence her and opposition members who had called tens of thousands of people to the streets in anti-government protests that at times turned violent.
asserted
that → deny → times
She kept a low profile for the next nine years, supporting some anti-Maduro initiatives and election boycotts and criticizing opposition efforts to negotiate with the government.
asserted
She → keep → government
By the time she announced a new bid for the presidency in 2023, her careful messaging had softened her image as an elitist hard-liner, allowing her to connect with skeptics on both sides.
asserted
her → announce → sides
She won the opposition’s presidential primary with more than 90% of the vote, unifying the faction — as noted by the Nobel Prize committee.
asserted
She → win → committee
But ruling party loyalists who control the country’s judiciary kept her from appearing on the ballot, which forced her to throw her support behind former diplomat Edmundo González.
asserted
which → rule → González
Machado hiked on overpasses, walked highways, rode motorcycles and sought shelter in supporters’ homes as she kept campaigning across Venezuela.
asserted
she → hike → Venezuela
Many of her closest collaborators were arrested.
asserted
Many → arrest → collaborators
She repeatedly joined thousands of supporters chanting in unison, “Freedom! Freedom! Freedom!” in rallies and asked them to vote for González, a virtual unknown who had never run for office.
asserted
who → join → office
González crushed Maduro by a more than a two-to-one margin, according to voting machine records collected by the opposition and validated by international observers.
uncertain
González → crush → observers
Still, Venezuela’s National Electoral Council, loyal to the ruling party, declared Maduro the winner of the July 28, 2024, contest.
asserted
Maduro → rule → contest
People protested the results across the country, and the government responded with full force, arresting more than 2,000 people and accusing them of plotting to oust Maduro and sow chaos.
asserted
government → protest → chaos
Most were released over the following months, but the government simultaneously arrested dozens of people who actively participated in Machado’s efforts.
asserted
who → release → efforts
Some of Machado’s closest collaborators, including her campaign manager, avoided prison by sheltering for more than a year at a diplomatic compound in Caracas, where they remained until May 2025, when they fled to the U.S.
González meanwhile went into exile in Spain after he became the subject of an arrest warrant.
uncertain
he → include → warrant
Machado’s brief detention in January 2025 took place as she left a demonstration against Maduro’s planned swearing-in ceremony.
asserted
she → take → ceremony
Her and González’s inability to stop Maduro from taking the oath of office led to a decline in support for her.
asserted
inability → stop → her
Venezuelans’ trust in Machado has diminished since then, primarily over her unquestioning support for Trump.
asserted
trust → diminish → Trump
She gifted him her Nobel medal, even after his administration passed her over and chose to work with Maduro ally Delcy Rodríguez instead.
asserted
administration → gift → Rodríguez
Machado demands a new election
Machado and her allies have demanded that the Rodríguez government set a date for a presidential election.
asserted
government → demand → election
After Maduro was deposed, Venezuela’s highest court said Rodríguez could serve as acting president for up to 90 days — an interim appointment that could be extended by the National Assembly for an additional 90 days.
uncertain
that → depose → days
But the ruling party-controlled assembly never voted to extend her term which expired in July.
asserted
which → rule → July
…and 4 more, not listed.
The Aporia
