Machado calls Venezuela's transition irreversible and demands elections in 2027

Machado's return to Caracas

María Corina Machado returned to Venezuela on Sunday, 25 October, after ten months abroad, and gave her first press conference since coming back at the Andrés Bello Catholic University in Caracas on Thursday, 29 October. The 2025 Nobel Peace Prize laureate had left the country in December to collect the prize. According to the Washington Post, people familiar with the matter said her sudden appearance caught the Trump administration by surprise. Machado explained that her team had organized the return independently, and she credited the US military operation that removed Nicolás Maduro in January with opening the way to freedom.

A 2027 election and the three-phase plan

Machado said the three-phase plan presented by President Donald Trump was moving forward, and that the timelines had become clearer within hours. According to ANSA, she said Secretary of State Marco Rubio had laid out a sequence of events and made clear that presidential elections would take place in 2027. LaSexta reports that a State Department official said on Monday, 26 October, that acting president Delcy Rodríguez should declare the presidency vacant in 2027, which would open a six-month window to call elections. Machado welcomed that statement in these words:

“The timelines have become clearer. That responsibly addresses the urgency of a country.”

Acting president rules out a near-term vote

Europa Press reports that Delcy Rodríguez ruled out calling elections in the short term only hours before Machado's remarks. In a prerecorded address that state television broadcast an hour before the press conference, Rodríguez said elections would be held as the constitution requires, organized by a renewed electoral authority, without giving a date. She dismissed Machado's return as a "show" and insisted that no one in Venezuela is persecuted for their politics, according to the Washington Post. Rodríguez framed the vote in conciliatory terms:

“The election should not be a problem, nor should it set us back to times of confrontation that no one wants anymore.”

Criticism of the oil deal and Trump's role

Machado criticized what she called a lack of transparency in a US deal for Venezuelan oil, the Washington Post reports, while thanking Trump and Rubio for their "vision" and "courage" in opening the transition. ANSA quotes her saying that the transition had opened and that a new era had begun. She also said the transition would involve every sector of the country in building the new Venezuela. Europa Press reports that she described Venezuela as the greatest ally the United States would ever have in the region.

Support and the pressure on the government

Polls consistently show Machado as Venezuela's most popular politician, according to the Washington Post, and her homecoming has electrified supporters across the country. The Post says her return could test the Trump administration's control over Venezuela, and that both Washington and the Venezuelan government have set out their commitments to democratic elections. Rodríguez has promised that all elections provided for in the constitution will be held, but she has not set a date, while the opposition continues to demand presidential elections.