The Areas Devastated by Earthquakes in Venezuela is Where María Corina Machado Toured Today.
Opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize laureate María Corina Machado toured the earthquake-stricken area of Venezuela on Wednesday, a visit she considered “the most important one she had pending” since her return from exile. After several failed attempts, Machado returned to Venezuela on Sunday in a caravan that crossed five states until reaching Caracas amidst thousands of supporters who awaited her along the way. This Wednesday she toured several points in the state of La Guaira pictured below, a beach resort 40 km from Caracas that suffered the most serious damage from the double earthquake that left more than 6,500 dead and an undetermined number of missing persons.
“I knew I had to be here from day one,” Machado told reporters. “You don’t know how I have felt in my soul the pain of not having been able to hug you during these days,” added Machado, who promised to help in the reconstruction of La Guaira. The opposition leader had expressed her desire to be in the disaster zone since June 24, when the earthquakes occurred, but she also denounced that her return to Venezuela was obstructed several times.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio pictured below and above right, stated a few days ago that he advised Machado against returning to the country amid the emergency. “It was the only time I told him that it probably wasn’t the best time to return, in the midst of a humanitarian calamity, because we wanted to make sure that the planes arrived” with the humanitarian aid, Rubio said.
While she was speaking, Machado was surrounded by several of those affected by the devastating earthquakes. Interim President Delcy Rodríguez pictured below left, described Machado’s return trip by land as a “show,” asserting that she could have entered the country through one of its airports.
Delcy Rodríguez above left has been in the news all day today. She ordered Venezuela’s security forces that no one be detained without a judicial order, except in cases of flagrancy. “We all have the right to think differently, without fear of reprisals of any kind,” she stated. She also admitted to corruption in the justice system and assured that the country is advancing toward elections with guarantees for all. Delcy also announced renewal of the Electoral Power and confirms that there will be elections with the world as a witness. “The election should not be a problem nor make us go back to times of confrontation that no one wants anymore.”
Machado above went into exile in Panama after leaving Venezuela in December 2025 after nearly a year in hiding for denouncing the re-election of the deposed Nicolás Maduro pictured below, in the elections of July 28, 2024, as fraudulent.
Maduro pictured above, was captured in January in a US military raid and is imprisoned in New York on charges of drug trafficking, among others.
