María Corina Machado is considering a radical shift in her strategy for returning to Venezuela: abandoning discreet routes and turning her return into a high-impact political event, surrounded by figures and international delegations, according to reporting by ABC.es this Thursday.
The shift in focus comes after the opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner 2025 has made seven unsuccessful attempts to return to the country since she left secretly in December 2025.
The three most recent incidents occurred on September 21 and 22, all from Panama City: first, a maritime departure was canceled due to alleged mechanical failures, and then two flights—one to Aruba and another to Curacao—were blocked or unauthorized.
"The idea is to leave behind discreet routes and make the return a visible event," noted ABC.es, which specified that Machado's team is analyzing logistical options from Panama and studying the possibility of an international delegation traveling with her to Venezuela.
The logic behind the new plan is to raise the diplomatic cost of any blockade: if the chavista regime prevents the entry of a delegation of foreign politicians and personalities, the international repercussions would be significantly greater than those of a thwarted clandestine attempt.
On September 19, Machado had declared that she wanted to return "imminently" because she could no longer lead the democratic transition from abroad.
"My return will be a force that helps organize and channel the electoral process," he stated.
The failed attempts on September 21 and 22 coincided with the presence of the acting Venezuelan president Delcy Rodríguez in New York, where she participated in the UN General Assembly.
On September 23, Rodríguez met with President Donald Trump —calling the meeting "historic"— and pledged that "there will be elections in Venezuela at the right time," without setting any specific date.
The Secretary of State Marco Rubio described that meeting as focused on debt restructuring, economic stabilization, and a political transition towards free and fair elections.
Trump, for his part, had said at the beginning of September that Venezuela "is still not prepared" to hold elections.
Machado left Venezuela on December 11, 2025, after 16 months in hiding, in an operation supported by the United States, with a route through Curacao and a subsequent flight to Europe.
Her daughter Ana Corina Sosa received the Nobel in Oslo a day early because Machado did not arrive on time for the ceremony.
Since then, the attempts to return have occurred without success: in March 2026, he promised to come back "in a few weeks"; in June, two attempts from Curaçao and Panama failed.
Panama is said to have granted Machado a special humanitarian diplomatic status to facilitate his international mobility, although this condition has not been sufficient to guarantee his access to Venezuela.
Ana Corina Sosa warned on Wednesday about the conditions for her mother's return, amidst the negotiations that Washington is conducting with Caracas regarding the country's political future.
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