Machado tries, fails to enter Venezuela as Rodriguez meets Trump

Andreina Itriago and Eric Martin, Bloomberg News on Sep 22, 2026

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Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado tried three times in the past 24 hours to return home but was unable to complete the journey.

Machado sought to travel from Panama to Venezuela by several routes, according to a person with direct knowledge of her plans. The attempts came as acting President Delcy Rodríguez visited New York for the United Nations General Assembly, where she met with U.S. President Donald Trump.

The efforts included plans to travel by boat and to fly to the Caribbean islands of Aruba and Curaçao before continuing by sea, the person said. Colombia’s NTN24 first reported the attempts earlier Tuesday.

The failure to get home underscores the obstacles Machado continues to face as she seeks to carve out a role in the U.S.-backed political transition following Nicolás Maduro’s capture in January. They also highlight the divergent paths of Machado and Rodríguez as Washington deepens its engagement with the acting president while shunning the opposition.

Rodríguez met with Trump on Tuesday on the sidelines of the U.N. meeting, according to a White House official. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent also attended.

Machado’s daughter, Ana Corina Sosa, said Tuesday that her mother was actively trying to return but acknowledged that the process was complicated.

“Right now she is trying to return, at this moment,” Sosa told NTN24 in New York, adding that there were “many forces” involved and that returning wasn’t as simple as boarding a plane.

Sosa spoke after accepting the 2026 Concordia Leadership Award on her mother’s behalf in New York. Machado participated virtually in the ceremony.

Machado is expected to address the issue later.

The latest efforts follow several previous failed attempts by Machado to return to Venezuela, including one in late June when her plane was forced to divert.

Machado has publicly said she intends to return to take part in Venezuela’s political transition. In an interview with the Wall Street Journal published last week, she said she was prepared to leave at a moment’s notice and could enter the country by land, sea or air, though she gave no specific date.

It wasn’t immediately clear whether the latest attempts were coordinated with Washington or whether Machado had received security guarantees. Trump has said he doesn’t oppose her returning to Venezuela.

Her efforts come as the Trump administration has increasingly worked with Rodríguez since Maduro’s removal, recognizing her authority, easing sanctions and deepening economic ties with her government. The relationship has expanded further with a major oil agreement between the two countries and Rodríguez’s visit to New York this week.

Machado’s return would present a new challenge for Rodríguez, whose government has allowed politicians, activists and journalists who spent years in exile to come back, including some of Machado’s closest allies.

She remains Venezuela’s most popular political figure, with a 53% positive image in the latest AtlasIntel survey conducted for Bloomberg News.

Machado went into hiding shortly after the disputed 2024 presidential election, saying she feared for her life as Maduro’s government targeted opposition leaders. She left Venezuela late last year in a clandestine operation to collect her Nobel Peace Prize and subsequently met Trump and other senior U.S. officials in Washington. After the failed attempts to return in June, she remained largely in Panama.