Venezuelan opposition leader Edmundo González has reiterated this Thursday that opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize laureate, María Corina Machado, "has the right to enter Venezuela," amid growing speculation about her eventual return to the country. Machado left Venezuelan territory to go in December 2025 to Norway, where she received the prestigious award.
"There are principles that do not admit negotiation. The right of every Venezuelan to enter, remain, and return to their own country does not depend on authorization from the authorities," González stated in a message disseminated on social media, where he insisted that it is "a right recognized by the Constitution and by International Human Rights Law."
In this regard, he emphasized that Machado, "like any Venezuelan," "has the right to enter Venezuela." "Defending that right is defending a guarantee that belongs to all citizens, beyond any political position," he added, remarking further that "a country cannot be rebuilt while its citizens depend on permission from the authorities to return home."
"Venezuela will once again be a Republic and at that moment Venezuelans will exercise their rights," González pointed out. His words come a few days after Machado herself, who since her departure has repeatedly reiterated her intention to return, assured again on Sunday that she will do so "very soon," following the devastating earthquakes registered in Venezuela.
That same Sunday, in an interview with the American network Fox News, Machado declared that "the time has come" to return to Venezuela and maintained that she considers it her "duty" to "accompany" the population after the earthquakes, which have left nearly 2,300 dead and 11,000 injured, according to the latest balance provided by the authorities.
Currently, the South American country is headed by Delcy Rodríguez, appointed acting president after the military operation launched in January by the United States against Caracas, which resulted in more than a thousand deaths and the capture of the then-president, Nicolás Maduro, and his wife, Cilia Flores, both subsequently transferred to US territory.
On the other hand, González moved to Spain in September 2024, after leaving Caracas on a Spanish Air Force plane. He did so after remaining for more than a month sheltered in diplomatic facilities of the Netherlands, following his defeat against Maduro in the elections of that year, an election that the opposition denounced as fraudulent.