Claudia Macero returns to Venezuela after two years of exile

Venezuelan opposition leader Claudia Macero, often considered the main deputy of Nobel Peace Prize winner Maria Corina Machado, was greeted by hundreds of supporters at Caracas airport on Sunday evening.

Exiled for about two years, Ms. Macero is in charge of media within Ms. Machado's Sale party. The latter has herself been prevented several times from returning to her country since the capture of Nicolas Maduro in January by the American army.

“Today I am returning to Venezuela (...) to give confidence to others. It's time to come back, it's time to come home. It is time to recover this country and we must do it with our own hands,” she told the journalists present. “I come here to work, to also give confidence to a team which is doing everything possible to move forward,” she added.

Asked when Ms. Machado arrived, she said she did not know her. “Maria Corina is trying every day to come back, as you saw last week. And obviously, there is a very difficult process, but it will pass.

“I will return to my country very soon”

Activists sang the national anthem upon her arrival as she embraced her acquaintances. According to her party, the return of Ms. Machado, exiled in Panama, has been prevented seven times, the latest attempt being on September 22. “I will return to my country very soon,” she assured Saturday during her participation in a virtual forum. Several officials from his party who were in exile have returned in recent weeks.

Although American authorities deny it, many observers believe that there is an American veto on the return of Ms. Machado, exiled in Panama. Donald Trump, on several occasions, has shown his satisfaction with the work of interim President Delcy Rodriguez.

Ms. Macero, 34, a media manager for Ms. Machado's Sale party, was among six people on Ms. Machado's team who took refuge in the Argentine embassy in Caracas in March 2024 to escape arrest during the crackdown ahead of the 2024 presidential election.

In May 2025, this group was able to leave the embassy during a secret operation carried out with American support, the details of which were never revealed. Ms. Macero then told the press that she had even left before her companions.