Venezuela's Machado vows another run for presidency and eyes return from exile before end of 2026

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PANAMA CITY, Panama (AP) — Venezuela's Nobel Peace Prize laureate María Corina Machado announced Saturday that she plans to run for president again and intends to return to her home country before the end of 2026.

Machado's remarks, made while meeting in Panama with several fellow Venezuelan opposition leaders, come more than four months after the stunning White House decision to sideline her and instead work with a Venezuelan ruling party loyalist following the U.S. military’s capture of then-President Nicolás Maduro.

Machado has been in exile since December, when she emerged from 11 months in hiding somewhere in Venezuela and traveled to Norway where she was honored with the Nobel Prize.

She told reporters in Panama City that she and the other gathered opposition leaders remain committed to a democratic transition “through free and fair presidential elections, where all Venezuelans inside and outside the country vote.”

Still, it is unclear when Venezuela will hold a presidential election.

U.S. President Donald Trump and senior administration officials have praised Maduro’s successor, acting President Delcy Rodríguez, who has thrown open Venezuela’s oil industry to U.S. investment at a time of surging oil prices tied to the war in Iran.

The Trump administration has also dampened talk of elections, which are required by Venezuela’s constitution within 30 days of the president becoming “permanently unavailable.”

An election with democratic conditions would take between seven and nine months of planning, Machado said. Necessary changes include the appointment of neutral electoral authorities, voting registration updates and the ability of opposition candidates to run for office without government interference.

Machado rose to become Maduro’s strongest opponent in recent years, but his government barred her from running for office in the 2024 presidential election, leading her to choose retired ambassador Edmundo González Urrutia to represent her on the ballot.

Officials loyal to the ruling party declared Maduro the winner mere hours after the polls closed, but Machado’s well-organized campaign collected evidence showing González had defeated Maduro by a margin of more than 2-to-1.

On Saturday, Machado told reporters she would run against any other presidential hopeful in “an impeccable election.”

“I will be a candidate, but there may be others, of course,” she said. “I would love to compete with everyone, with anyone who wants to be a candidate.”