Machado eyes political activities in Venezuela - NHKニュース

Venezuela's opposition leader and 2025 Nobel Peace Prize winner Maria Corina Machado has indicated that she will carry out political activities across the country.

She was speaking at her first news conference held on Thursday in the capital, Caracas, since returning home on Sunday for the first time in about 11 months.

Machado secretly left Venezuela to attend the award ceremony for last year's Nobel Peace Prize. She subsequently stayed in the United States, Panama and elsewhere.

Machado said she returned to Venezuela to bring various civil society groups into efforts to build a new republic. She expressed her intention to engage in political activities across the country to accelerate Venezuela's transition to democracy.

If Machado can carry out political activities openly, it would mark a major change. Under former President Nicolas Maduro, she had been forced to operate in hiding for fear of persecution.

In January, Maduro was captured and taken to the US in a military operation conducted by the US administration under President Donald Trump. Since then, Maduro's close aide Delcy Rodriguez has been in power as Venezuela's interim president.

The US administration has indicated it will remain involved in Venezuela, saying conditions must be created for free and fair elections.

Attention is focused on how Venezuela's interim government will respond to the opposition led by Machado.