Trump deal with Venezuela faces new test as Machado makes comeback Venezuelan opposition politician Maria Corina Machado returned to her country for the first time since December, announcing her arrival at X with the words “I'm here. with you. Her return home after more than ten months abroad comes at a delicate moment, as doubts deepen over whether Venezuela's political transition will ever bring the elections she has spent years demanding. The Trump administration reportedly opposed Machados' return, believing her presence would complicate the relationship he had cultivated with interim President Delsea Rodriguez. The White House bet on Rodriguez as a guarantor of stability and the flow of oil, while Machado - a Nobel laureate who once presented Trump with her medal - was kept at arm's length. Trump himself claimed ignorance about her return: "I don't know anything about it," he said, adding that "she is a very nice woman." But we are doing very well in Venezuela. When the official negotiations between the interim government and the opposition began in the summer, Machado was not at the table. The opposition was represented instead by Dinora Figueroa, a former lawmaker who returned from exile at the invitation of the Foreign Ministry, the New York Times reports. Machado has demanded a vote by July 2027 and has made at least seven failed attempts to return home, with her team claiming planes have been diverted and vessels vandalized to keep her away. US intelligence estimates reported that Machado would be difficult to control, which may have led to the disruption of the flow of oil to the US. The return of Machados put a spotlight on the gap between its legitimacy on the streets and its isolation in the negotiation room. Her presence on Venezuelan soil could undermine the careful arrangement the Trump administration has built with Rodriguez. substack | talk.