Machado returns from exile to jubilant crowds in Venezuela

Maria Corina Machado, Venezuela's opposition leader and a Nobel Peace Prize winner, made a surprise return home on Sunday after nearly a year in exile, drawing jubilant crowds in a direct challenge to the U.S.-backed interim government.

Thousands of people lined highways, toll plazas and city streets waving Venezuelan flags and chanting "Liberty!" as Machado entered Caracas in a convoy of cars and motorbikes.

Wearing her trademark white T-shirt and blue jeans, she leaned through the sunroof of a vehicle to wave to the crowds and shake hands with her supporters.

In Guacara earlier, AFP witnessed Machado singing the national anthem as supporters packed out a plaza, waving flags and cheering her return.

A woman shouted, "Maria, if you come back, my daughter has to come back!" referring to one of the millions of Venezuelans who have fled repression and a moribund economy.

Her return puts Venezuela's most influential opposition figure back at the center of the country's tumultuous politics.

Machado slipped out of the country last December to receive the Nobel Peace Prize, after spending nearly a year in hiding.

Since then, the 59-year-old has made at least seven unsuccessful attempts to return to Venezuela, according to sources in her party.

She finally reappeared Sunday at the Santa Rosa church in the western city of Barquisimeto, where supporters greeted her with chants of "Viva Maria Corina!"

AFP