Thousands of Venezuelans took to the streets on Thursday (October 22, 2026) in the first nationwide opposition protest in nearly ‌two years, as demonstrators demanded free elections and other political changes with a notably thin presence of security forces.

The ​United States has been working closely with the interim government led by acting President Delcy Rodriguez since U.S. forces captured President ⁠Nicolas Maduro in January. Both U.S. President Donald Trump and Ms. Rodriguez, Mr. Maduro’s former deputy, have said there will be elections, but have not set a date either for a legislative vote or a national contest for president.

Opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner Maria Corina Machado, who has been outside the country for nearly a ‌year after living in hiding following a contested 2024 election, has said elections must take place by July 2027.

Her Vente Venezuela movement organized the protest, which took place in the capital Caracas and other cities, including Valencia, Maracay, San Cristobal, and Maracaibo.

“Seeing ‌this makes me happy because I know change is possible,” said 18-year-old cosmetology student Leosmary Hernandez, as she gathered with hundreds of others ‌in ⁠northern Maracay. “I’ve been through so many hardships, so many problems because of the dollar, and difficulties studying. I have high hopes ⁠for my country and for our next leader, president, Maria Corina.”

“I went out to protest before, when things were much tougher, and I’m even less afraid today because I want my voice to be heard,” she added as music boomed around protesters waving Venezuelan flags.

Venezuela’s socialist movement, in power since 1999 under late President Hugo Chavez and then Mr. Maduro, has ​in the past deployed security forces against protesters decrying political repression, dizzying ‌inflation, poor public services and other problems in the economically battered country, including after the 2024 presidential election.

Security forces had minimal presence at protest sites on Thursday (October 22, 2026), and in many smaller cities demonstrators dispersed before dark.

The ruling Socialist Party called for its supporters to march from Caracas’ Plaza Venezuela, the same place the opposition planned to gather two hours later, to a location near the presidential palace to commemorate Breast ‌Cancer Awareness Month.

Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello, known for his close ties to the security services, was pictured on state television attending the march, ​while the opposition supporters moved their protest to a nearby location.

NEGOTIATIONS CONTINUE

U.S.-backed talks between a faction of the opposition and the interim government, aimed at remaking the top court and the electoral council with an eye toward ensuring fairness ⁠at eventual elections, held their latest session this month, but changes could take significant time. The negotiations do not include Ms. Machado’s political movement, though she has said she will not stand in the way of their progress.

Ms. Machado’s proxy roundly won the 2024 election according to vote tallies released by the opposition. ‌But the government, which never released full counts, backed Mr. Maduro, as did the country’s legal and electoral institutions.

“We want presidential elections now. We want an electoral timetable to be announced now. We are not going to wait until 2028,” said Maria Debora Marin, 57, who runs a clothing store in central Valencia, referring to rumors elections may only take place the year after next. “What we want is to move forward and finally get out of this nightmare.”

Amid the arrests of some of her closest collaborators, Ms. Machado went into hiding. Her last public appearance in Venezuela was at protests to mark Mr. Maduro’s third inauguration in January 2025, where she was briefly detained.

Ms. Machado has for years sought U.S. support, aligning with hawks in Mr. Trump’s team who ‌argued that Mr. Maduro — through links to drug gangs — represented a direct threat to U.S. national security. Mr. Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, are facing drug and torture charges in ​the U.S. They have pleaded not guilty.

But Mr. Trump has repeatedly praised Ms. Rodriguez’s management and her willingness to welcome U.S. investors, saying last month it is too soon to consider elections.

Ms. Machado’s desire to return home, especially after devastating twin earthquakes in ⁠June, has caused friction in Washington, with U.S. officials asking her to delay her trip, Reuters has reported.

“We’re in limbo,” said recent graduate Rayeska Puesme, 18, as ⁠she attended the protest in Caracas, adding she had considered leaving because of a lack of opportunities. “The United States removed one big problem, which was Mr. Maduro, but the rest are still there.”

“I feel in my heart that things are going to change, but ‌I don’t see when.”

Demonstrators were also calling for the release of prisoners they say are held for political reasons.

Legal rights group Foro Penal, which represents opposition figures and others who have been detained, often on charges like treason, says there are still more than 320 political ​prisoners in Venezuela, despite releases that took place under an amnesty law backed by the legislature earlier this year. The government has repeatedly denied holding political prisoners and says the amnesty is generous.

Published – October 23, 2026 06:39 am IST

Nobel Peace Prize winner María Corina Machado. File
| Photo Credit: AP

Venezuelan opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner Maria Corina Machado. File
| Photo Credit: Reuters

The fallout from Venezuela’s powerful twin quakes has evolved into a major test for acting President Delcy Rodriguez, sending her scrambling to prevent the humanitarian disaster from becoming a political one as her mandate as interim leader expires Friday (July 3, 2026).

A day after Ms. Rodriguez angrily defended the competence of her government’s relief effort at her first news conference since the June 24 disaster, her main rival, exiled Venezuelan Nobel Peace Prize laureate Maria Corina Machado, issued her own appeal.

Speaking Friday (July 3, 2026) from Panama, Ms. Machado argued that the government’s quake response exposed its critical weaknesses and that her return to Venezuela “contributes to facilitating the transition process, especially after the tragedy”.

“My presence stabilises the situation; it is part of the organising forces that the country needs at a time when the total absence of the state has become evident,” Ms. Machado said, referring to widespread criticism of the government’s earthquake response as slow and disorganized. “The country needs figures it can trust.” The quakes have killed more than 2,295 people and injured over 11,000 others, according to the government, which has not offered updates on the dead and injured since Wednesday.

Ms. Machado’s opposition movement has set up a digital database to locate the missing that currently lists over 36,000 people unaccounted for. Her party has mobilised volunteers to collect donations in Venezuela and solicited aid from the country’s vast diaspora.

“My presence … seeks to bring people together, to unify, not only to address an emergency, but also to heal the wound,” said the opposition leader, who was barred from running in a 2024 presidential election in which President Nicolas Maduro claimed victory.

An independently verified vote count carried out by the opposition found that the candidate that Ms. Machado endorsed, Edmundo Gonzalez, was the real winner.

When the earthquakes hit, Ms. Machado saw a critical opportunity to return home for the first time since fleeing last December to accept a Nobel Peace Prize in Norway. Ever since the United States captured Mr. Maduro in a brazen military operation in January, Ms. Machado has been seeking a comeback and calling for a democratic transition.

But the Trump administration has thrown its support behind Rodriguez since Mr. Maduro’s ouster, praising her business-friendly reforms of the country’s lucrative oil sector and giving no timetable on when elections might be held.

Two senior U.S. officials familiar with the matter, speaking on condition of anonymity to disclose private diplomatic discussions, told The Associated Press that the Trump administration has grown frustrated with Ms. Machado and dissuaded her from returning to Venezuela in the aftermath of the earthquakes.

One official said that Ms. Machado had sought assistance from Washington for ferrying her to Venezuela from the Dutch Caribbean territory of Curacao and also from Panama, where she is now.

The second official said the U.S. suspected she wanted to return to lead protests against Ms. Rodríguez and push for political change at a time when the focus should be on quake recovery. This official added that the Trump administration could not prevent Ms. Machado’s return but was not in a position to facilitate it.

Upon learning of Ms. Machado’s imminent plans to return, Ms. Rodríguez shut down commercial air traffic into Caracas, the U.S. official said. Those cancelled flights had been due to bring in hundreds of relief workers to assist with earthquake recovery efforts, the official said.

On Monday, Ms. Machado claimed that the government had closed its airspace to prevent her return, without offering evidence. The government did not respond to a request for comment on the alleged closure.

Seemingly concerned that anger over the earthquake response could jeopardise her authority, Rodriguez on Thursday blamed any criticism on what she called “narratives manufactured in propaganda laboratories”.

She claimed that rescue crews deployed immediately with adequate equipment to disaster zones — contrary to widespread complaints by residents that they were left alone to search for their loved ones without official teams or heavy machinery for the first 48 hours.

“Those propaganda operations, driven by partisan political interests, are despicable,” she said. “We did not wait one day, two days or three days. We activated immediately.” She went on to say that thousands of civil and military rescue workers as well as 11 international field hospitals had been deployed to quake-affected areas, adding that the government had approved the creation of a fund to receive donations for reconstruction.

On Friday (July 3, 2026), state-run media broadcast her paying a visit in the hospital to Hernan Alberto Gil Flores, a 43-year-old security guard pried from a collapsed basement after surviving nearly eight days under the rubble. His dramatic rescue Thursday (July 2, 2026) served as rare bright spots in one of the bleakest periods in memory for Venezuela.

Under Venezuela’s constitution, temporary absences are to be filled by the Vice-president — which was Rodriguez’s former role — for up to 90 days, after which they can be extended by the national assembly for an additional 90 days.

On Friday (July 3, 2026), that 180-day interim period expired. There was no immediate comment from authorities on what, if anything, they would do in response to the expiration of Rodriguez’s mandate.

The National Assembly, controlled by Ms Rodriguez’s party, can trigger a snap election if lawmakers declare the post permanently vacant. 

Published – July 04, 2026 08:49 am IST

Venezuelan Opposition leader Maria Corina Machado. File
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Venezuelan opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner Maria Corina Machado speaks onstage during an event to meet with members of Venezuela’s community residing in Chile, in Santiago, Chile.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Pope Leo XIV. File.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Venezuelan Opposition leader María Corina Machado appeared in public for the first time in 11 months early Thursday (December 11, 2025) morning, when she waved to supporters from a hotel balcony in Norway’s capital hours after her daughter accepted the Nobel Peace Prize on her behalf.

Ms. Machado and her supporters then sang Venezuela’s national anthem before she left the hotel to shake their hands. People erupted in cheers and began chanting, “Freedom! Freedom!” and “Thank you! Thank you!”

Ms. Machado, dressed in jeans and a puffer jacket, spent several minutes outside the hotel, where she was joined by members of her family and several of her closest aides.

Ms. Machado had been in hiding since January 9, when she was briefly detained after joining supporters in a protest in Caracas, Venezuela’s capital. She had been expected to attend the award ceremony on Wednesday (December 10, 2025) in Oslo, where heads of state and her family were among those waiting to see her.

Ms. Machado said in an audio recording of a phone call published on the Nobel website that she would not be able to arrive in time for the ceremony but that many people had “risked their lives” for her to arrive in Oslo.

Her daughter, Ana Corina Sosa, accepted the prize in her place.

“She wants to live in a free Venezuela, and she will never give up on that purpose,” Ms. Sosa said. “That is why we all know, and I know, that she will be back in Venezuela very soon.”

Jørgen Watne Frydnes, chair of the Norwegian Nobel committee, told the award ceremony that “María Corina Machado has done everything in her power to be able to attend the ceremony here today — a journey in a situation of extreme danger.”

“Although she will not be able to reach this ceremony and today’s events, we are profoundly happy to confirm that she is safe, and that she will be with us here in Oslo,” he said to applause.

Ms. Machado, in the audio recording published on the Nobel website, many people had “risked their lives” for her to arrive in Oslo.

“I am very grateful to them, and this is a measure of what this recognition means to the Venezuelan people,” she said, before indicating that she was about to board a plane.

Ms. Machado said that “since this is a prize for all Venezuelans, I believe that it will be received by them. And as soon as I arrive, I will be able to embrace all my family and my children that I’ve have not seen for two years and so many Venezuelans, Norwegians that I know that share our struggle and our fight.”

Show of solidarity

Prominent Latin American figures attended on Wednesday (December 10, 2025) in a signal of solidarity with Ms. Machado, including Argentine President Javier Milei, Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa, Panamanian President José Raúl Mulino and Paraguayan President Santiago Peña.

The 58-year-old Ms. Machado’s win for her struggle to achieve a democratic transition in her South American nation was announced on October 10. Mr. Frydnes said that Venezuela has evolved into a “brutal authoritarian state”, and he described Ms. Machado as “one of the most extraordinary examples of civilian courage in recent Latin American history.”

Ms. Machado won an Opposition primary election and intended to challenge President Nicolás Maduro in last year’s presidential election, but the government barred her from running for office. Retired diplomat Edmundo González took her place.

The lead-up to the election on July 28, 2024, saw widespread repression, including disqualifications, arrests and human rights violations. That increased after the country’s National Electoral Council, which is stacked with Maduro loyalists, declared the incumbent the winner.

Mr. González, who sought asylum in Spain last year after a Venezuelan court issued a warrant for his arrest, attended Wednesday’s (December 10, 2025) ceremony.

U.N. human rights officials and many independent rights groups have expressed concerns about the situation in Venezuela, and called for Mr. Maduro to be held accountable for the crackdown on dissent.

Fight for freedom

“More than anything, what we Venezuelans can offer the world is the lesson forged through this long and difficult journey — that to have democracy, we must be willing to fight for freedom,” Ms. Sosa said as she delivered the lecture written for the occasion by her mother.

The speech did not refer to the current tensions between Washington and Caracas, as U.S. President Donald Trump continues a military operation in the Caribbean that has killed Venezuelans in international waters and threatens to strike Venezuela. Ms. Machado has consistently endorsed Trump’s strategy toward Venezuela.

Among many “heroes of this journey” honoured in the lecture, Ms. Sosa mentioned “the leaders around the world who joined us and defended our cause”, but did not elaborate.

Mr. Frydnes said of authoritarian leaders like Mr. Maduro that “your power is not permanent. Your violence will not prevail over people who rise and resist.”

“Mr. Maduro, accept the election result and step down,” he said.

Past winners unable to attend

Five past Nobel Peace Prize laureates were detained or imprisoned at the time of the award, according to the prize’s official website, most recently Iranian activist Narges Mohammadi in 2023 and Belarusian human rights advocate Ales Bialiatski in 2022.

The others were Liu Xiaobo of China in 2010, Aung San Suu Kyi of Myanmar in 1991 and Carl von Ossietzky of Germany in 1935.

Published – December 11, 2025 10:52 am IST

Venezuelan Opposition leader Maria Corina Machado won the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday (October 10, 2025) for promoting democratic rights in her country and her struggle to achieve a transition to democracy, the Norwegian Nobel Committee said.

Maria Corina Machado (58) was born in Caracas, Venezuela, on October 7, 1967. She is an industrial engineer by training, and her father was a prominent businessman in Venezuela’s steel industry. Her upper-class roots have made her a target of criticism from Venezuela’s governing socialist party.

Maria Corina Machado went into ‘hiding’

Ms. Machado won a resounding victory in the Opposition’s primary election in 2023 and her rallies attracted large crowds, but a ban from holding public office prevented her from running for President against Nicolas Maduro in an election in 2024 and she went into hiding.

The country’s electoral authority and top court say Ms. Maduro, whose time in office has been marked by a deep economic and social crisis, won the election, though they have never published detailed tallies.

Ms. Machado emerged from hiding to make a brief appearance during a protest before Mr. Maduro’s inauguration in January. She was briefly arrested and then freed.

Political awakening

In 2002, while working in a steel and rebar maker owned by her family, she founded a group called Sumate — initially focused on vote monitoring but which evolved into a key Opposition group over time.

In 2012, two years after her family’s business was expropriated by the government of Hugo Chavez, she was a candidate for the first time in an Opposition primary to run against Chavez, a contest ultimately won by Henrique Capriles.

In 2023, she embarked on a fresh presidential run, fuelled by threadbare campaign events, mostly in smaller towns, which ultimately propelled her to victory in the party’s primary, winning more than 2 million votes.

Her campaign tour, undertaken by car or sometimes on foot, with limited resources, brought her closer to her supporters even as a government prohibition on her candidacy forced her party to pass the torch to ally Edmundo Gonzalez, a little-known former diplomat and academic.

Closeness with comrades

Mr. Gonzalez, currently exiled in Madrid, shared a video on social media where he can be seen talking to Ms. Machado and celebrating her Nobel Prize.

“I’m in shock. I can’t believe this… My God!” Ms. Machado can be heard saying through her cell phone.

Mr. Gonzalez, who sought diplomatic refuge and moved to Spain in September 2024 after claiming he could have been jailed or tortured had he stayed in Venezuela, has sought to maintain a close relationship with Ms. Machado. She has said they often chat about the “fight for liberty”.

Mr. Gonzalez was widely seen as the victor in the 2024 presidential election, but Mr. Maduro’s government declared him the winner and he has retained power. A number of countries do not recognise Mr. Maduro’s government as legitimate, including the U.S. and the European Union.

Advocate of liberal economic reforms

Ms. Machado advocates for liberal economic reforms, including the privatisation of state-owned enterprises such as PDVSA, Venezuela’s oil company. She also supports the creation of welfare programmes aimed at aiding the country’s poorest citizens.

Collective struggle

“I hope you understand this is a movement; this is an achievement of a whole society,” Ms. Machado said in a call where she was officially informed that she had won the Peace Prize.

Though sometimes criticised for being stubborn — even by her own mother — Ms. Machado rarely speaks about herself in public. Instead, she frames her campaign as a collective struggle for redemption and unity, aiming to inspire hope among Venezuelans weary of economic hardship and social decay.

Her political activism has come at a cost, leaving her isolated, as nearly all of her senior advisers have been detained or forced to leave the country. Ms. Machado herself has accused Mr. Maduro’s administration of operating as a “criminal mafia”.

Published – October 10, 2025 06:54 pm IST