Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado, in exile since December 2025, has made three unsuccessful attempts to return to her country in the past 24 hours.
Reporters from the Spanish newspaper ABC traveled to Panama to accompany Machado on a journey back to Venezuela, initially attempting a sea route, and when that failed, by air through the Dutch Caribbean islands. However, the boat trip from Panama and the flights to Aruba and Curaçao were all canceled one after the other.
Pedro Urruchurtu, an advisor to the Nobel Peace Prize winner, highlighted this issue. "Attention: They are preventing María Corina from returning to Venezuela. In the last few hours, there have been three attempts, by sea and air, from Panama, all unsuccessful," he stated in a social media post. "They are not allowing her to return to her country," Urruchurtu reiterated. So far, Panamanian authorities have not publicly commented on Machado's attempts to return to Venezuela, which coincide with the Venezuelan interim president Delcy Rodríguez's trip to the United States for the 81st United Nations General Assembly.
Following recent events, ABC recounted previous attempts by Machado to return between June and September. Some of these attempts were known: on June 26, Machado boarded a private plane to Curaçao, a Caribbean island near Venezuela that is part of the Netherlands, intending to reverse the journey she took when she fled Venezuela in December 2025.
A private plane with Machado aboard took off from Washington but was ordered to turn back within an hour. Machado and her team believed they had U.S. government authorization, and Curaçao officials thought it was a coordinated plan with the U.S. When they found out it wasn't, the plan fell apart. Two days later, Machado tried again, attempting to board a flight from Panama to Caracas. However, the airline prevented her, fearing retaliation from the Venezuelan government.
Then came the three attempts in the last 24 hours. The first option involved a sea journey: a small boat was supposed to cross the Panama Canal on the evening of Monday, September 21, heading for the Caribbean. The operation was well underway, but just hours before departure, the boat's company canceled the trip, citing a severe engine failure and offering a refund. According to ABC, there is no indication that the technical issue was a pretext.
Faced with this setback, the opposition leader acted swiftly. Her team immediately sought a direct flight to Venezuela that could stop in Aruba, a Caribbean island under Dutch sovereignty, to complete the final leg from there. The main obstacle remained the documents: Machado's passport had expired, and several countries had denied her transit permission for this reason. To facilitate her travel, Panama issued her a special diplomatic passport, a type of document typically granted to foreign nationals of particular importance. This travel document did not confer Panamanian citizenship or an official role but confirmed her Venezuelan birth and provided the necessary credentials for travel. ABC's clarification on this detail proved crucial, as passenger lists began circulating that mistakenly attributed Panamanian nationality to Machado while organizing the flight.
A first plane was scheduled to depart early Tuesday morning, but new administrative hurdles related to the flight's classification emerged. Initially registered as a private commercial flight, it faced bureaucratic challenges requiring further checks and approvals, leading to yet another cancellation. Machado's team managed to secure a second aircraft for the same afternoon, but by then, the operation's confidentiality was compromised. The maneuvers at the airport, the submitted paperwork, and the flight plan registration raised suspicions and prompted consultations among various authorities. Despite her team's insistence on the validity of the documents, the absence of exit restrictions from Panama, and the legitimacy of the trip to a Dutch Caribbean territory, the final decision on landing approval rested solely with the Dutch government. Ultimately, Aruba's authorities denied permission for the plane to land on their island. Similarly, a last-ditch attempt to redirect the route to nearby Curaçao failed, as landing was not permitted there either.
(Associated Medias) - Tutti i diritti sono riservati