Opposition leader Maria Corina Machado returned to Venezuela for the first time since December 2025, reappearing at a church in Lara state on Oct. 25, before traveling to Caracas, where thousands of people turned out in the streets to greet her, AP reported the same day. Also on Oct. 25, fellow opposition leader in exile Edmundo Gonzalez said on social media that he would be at Machado's side "very soon," implying that he also planned to return to the country.