MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Venezuela's María Corina Machado accuses the government of blocking her return after the earthquake

Machado left Venezuela in late 2025 to receive the Nobel Peace Prize and has repeatedly called for the support of US President Donald Trump to achieve a change of government

Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado on Monday accused the government of acting President Delcy Rodríguez of closing the country's airspace to prevent her return, as Venezuela copes with the emergency caused by the June 24 twin earthquake, which has left more than 1,700 dead and some 5,000 injured. “They want to block my return to Venezuela,” Machado said in a video posted on social media, in which she said she was in Panama.

The Nobel Peace Prize laureate, in exile since late 2025, said she intended to travel to her country to support the quake's victims and accused the authorities of “mobilizing the state apparatus” to stop her, including, she said, the cancellation of commercial flights. “This is not about me; we are thousands who want to be together in a country in mourning,” she said. In a later statement she said the government had been forced to reverse the measure, but had “threatened those who want to facilitate” her return. She also denounced that the authorities were restricting the flow of information about the scale of the disaster.

The accusations, however, coincide with the closure of Maiquetía International Airport, the country's main terminal, which serves Caracas and was severely damaged by the earthquakes. The civil aviation authority issued a notice keeping the main runway closed —with cracks in the pavement and damage to the control tower and the terminal— until at least July 2. The airport is operating partially for humanitarian flights, while the terminals in Valencia and Maracaibo continue to receive some international flights. The Venezuelan government did not immediately respond to the leader's accusations, according to international media that sought its comment.

Along similar lines, opposition former presidential candidate Edmundo González called for international aid “without conditions and without intermediaries who use it as an instrument of control,” and urged humanitarian organizations and the Venezuelan diaspora to stand by the country.

Machado, one of the opposition's most visible figures after winning the 2023 primaries, has maintained a confrontational stance toward the Chavista government. Despite her political disqualification and restrictions on leaving the country, she became the main driving force of the opposition coalition, which claims González won the 2024 presidential election, whose official results declared then-president Nicolás Maduro reelected. After Maduro's capture in a US military operation in January, Rodríguez assumed the interim presidency. Machado left Venezuela in late 2025 to receive the Nobel Peace Prize and has repeatedly called for the support of US President Donald Trump to achieve a change of government. “Very soon I will be back in Venezuela, alongside the Venezuelan people,” she said on Monday.