Machado blocked from Venezuela for 7th time as interim leader meets Trump at UN

María Corina Machado, Venezuela's Nobel Peace Prize-winning opposition leader, was blocked from returning home three times in a single 24-hour stretch this week — by boat and by two separate flights out of Panama — bringing her total of failed return attempts to seven in recent weeks, according to her adviser.

During the last 24 hours, María Corina Machado has been denied entry into Venezuela three times. She has attempted to enter the country by air and sea but has been turned away each time.— David Smolansky, senior adviser to Machado

The attempts unfolded as Venezuela's interim president, Delcy Rodríguez, was in New York meeting U.S. President Donald Trump on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly — their first encounter since U.S. forces seized then-president Nicolás Maduro in Caracas in January and transported him to New York, where he faces narcotics charges that he denies.

According to journalist Idania Chirinos, who was with Machado in Panama and whose account was shared by Machado's party Vente Venezuela, the first attempt was a boat crossing on Monday. The passport had already been stamped when the boat operator cancelled, citing mechanical faults that Chirinos described as strange. A plane that was supposed to take Machado to Aruba on the following day never left the ground. A later flight toward Curaçao was also abandoned, according to Chirinos, as reported by riotimesonline.com.

Colombian broadcaster NTN24 and Spanish newspaper ABC reported the same sequence, describing a combination of mechanical problems, last-minute cancellations, and airspace restrictions, according to cbsnews.com. In a statement to the Spanish news agency EFE, Machado's team said she had been barred from departing Panama and remained stranded there. Her advisers did not name who stopped her.

On X, her international relations adviser Pedro Urruchurtu said three attempts to leave Panama by sea and air had failed, bringing the total number of failed attempts in recent weeks to seven, according to riotimesonline.com.

Since December, when a private U.S. rescue team covertly extracted her from Venezuela — where she had spent roughly a year in hiding — so she could travel to Norway to collect the Nobel Peace Prize she won in October 2025, Machado has been unable to re-enter the country, according to cbsnews.com. The Venezuelan government regards her as a fugitive and charges that she has called for military intervention against the country.

A previous bid to cross back into Venezuela collapsed in late June, just days after two earthquakes hit the country. At that time, Machado said the government had shut down commercial airspace to prevent her from entering, according to riotimesonline.com. This month she told The Wall Street Journal that the moment to return had arrived and that she could not lead a political process from abroad. She has said she wants a new presidential election, a tour of Venezuela's 23 states, and would run if a vote is held.

On Tuesday, Venezuela's main opposition coalition, the Plataforma Unitaria Democrática, called for her right to return to be honored and voiced what it described as firm solidarity with her, according to riotimesonline.com. At a U.S. congressional hearing in July, State Department official Cartwright Weiland said Washington would not stop her from going back and that she was a Venezuelan citizen with the right to return. Reuters, however, reported that U.S. officials privately urged her to delay her return after the June earthquakes.

Machado was not invited to U.S.-backed transition talks currently underway between the interim Venezuelan government and selected parts of the opposition, though she has indicated she would not interfere in the process, according to cbsnews.com. Separately, Rodríguez's delegation held talks in New York on energy, mining, and debt; two people close to the delegation told Reuters the goal was to present the country as worth investing in to U.S. officials, multilateral lenders, and companies.

No public comment has come from Panama's government about the failed departure attempts, and no Panamanian official has offered an explanation for why the flights did not leave, according to riotimesonline.com. According to ABC, Panama issued Machado a special diplomatic passport on humanitarian grounds but stopped short of granting her Panamanian nationality. Machado herself has not spoken publicly about the latest attempts.

Rodríguez, who was Maduro's vice president, took over as interim president after his capture in January. Washington has recognised her government and deepened ties since. Describing the meeting with Trump as a milestone, she said the two sides discussed energy, mining, and security, though the White House issued no joint statement, according to riotimesonline.com.

Why it matters — Machado's repeated inability to return home — even as Venezuela's interim government courts U.S. investment and diplomatic recognition — tests whether the country's political transition is producing real change or a reshuffled status quo.

Sources differ on Whether airspace was officially closed to block Machado: Machado said after the June attempt that the government closed commercial airspace to keep her out. (riotimesonline.com) vs That claim has not been confirmed by her party or any other party; AFP was told she was prevented from returning but no one was named. (riotimesonline.com)

Reported by cbsnews.com, reuters.com, voz.us, bloomberg.com, riotimesonline.com