Photo: Collected
Claudia Macero, an opposition political activist and close aide of Nobel Peace Prize-winning Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, returned home on Sunday after ending her exile.
When she arrived at the airport, hundreds of people welcomed her with jubilation.
After Macero landed at the main airport serving Caracas, supporters cheered and received her.
News agency AFP reported this.
A US-backed government was established in Venezuela after the United States captured Nicolas Maduro last January. Since then, Machado has not been allowed to return to the country.
Since then, US President Donald Trump’s extensive influence over Venezuela has been established. Trump demanded, and also obtained, various resources and benefits of the country, including US access to Venezuela’s vast oil wealth.
Macero, who ran Machado’s media operations, joined supporters in singing the national anthem and said, ‘The time has come to return home. The time has come to take control of the country back into our own hands.’
Last December, Machado came out of hiding and went to Norway to receive the Nobel Prize. Later, after staying in the United States for a short time, she is currently living in Panama City.
Machado’s political party, the Vente party, claims she has so far tried seven times to return to Venezuela.
Some political analysts in Venezuela say Washington has a role behind Machado not being allowed to return to the country.
In their view, the United States is keeping a close watch on the government of interim President Delcy Rodriguez and is effectively exerting extensive influence over the country. However, the Trump administration has denied this allegation.
The 34-year-old Macero is one of Machado’s seven close aides.
In March 2024, those seven took shelter at the Argentine embassy in Caracas to evade arrest. They stayed there for about a year, at a time when political repression in the country was rising ahead of that year’s presidential election.
In May 2025, those seven left the embassy and reached the United States.
The Trump administration had claimed they were taken to the United States through a secret operation. However, no details were given about how that operation was conducted.
