Venezuela opposition movement and 2026 elections
One page that accretes the verified record as the story develops. Every fact keeps its date and its sources.
US urges Venezuela to release remaining political prisoners
More than 1,000 political prisoners have been freed since US forces seized Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro in a military raid on Caracas on 3 January.
The National Electoral Council declared Nicolás Maduro the winner of the 2024 presidential election despite voting tallies collected by the opposition and verified by independent media suggesting the opposition candidate had won.
Venezuelan prisoners' rights group Foro Penal says 322 people remain in detention.
US urges Venezuela to follow phased democratic transition plan
Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado returned to her country the week before the article, thanking US President Donald Trump and Marco Rubio for their support.
US forces abducted former Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro from Caracas and brought him to the US to face drug trafficking and other charges nearly a year before the Rubio-Blanco meeting.
The US said it was creating a joint venture with North American Blue Energy Partners (NABEP), owned by Venezuelan businessman Alejandro Betancourt, which is the second-largest private oil operator in Venezuela behind Chevron.
Venezuela opposition leader María Machado returns and calls for elections
Machado's ability to return to Venezuela was contingent on approval from the Trump administration.
Machado has previously said she would run for president again if an election were held.
Machado left Venezuela on a speedboat to travel to Norway and accept the Nobel Peace Prize.
“instructed the security agencies that no one be detained without judicial order, except in cases of flagrant commission of crimes”
Trump touts Venezuelan oil and floats Venezuela as 51st state at Texas rally
Trump has spoken of acquiring Greenland, Canada, and Mexico, in addition to Venezuela.
Maduro was detained by US forces and taken to New York to face criminal charges after a raid on his Caracas residence.
Trump claimed on Truth Social that he had made the Western Hemisphere the Energy Capital of the World by unleashing Energy Dominance from Alaska to Venezuela.
“By unleashing Energy Dominance from Alaska, all the way down to Venezuela, I have made the Western Hemisphere the Energy Capital of the World.”
Trump and Rubio plan visit to oil tanker carrying Venezuelan crude in Texas
Trump has rallies scheduled in Corpus Christi and Lubbock.
Marco Rubio also serves as Trump's national security adviser.
Attorney General Todd Blanche has been appearing at rallies alongside Republican candidates.
María Machado returns from exile to Venezuela
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Machado's safe return to Venezuela was the direct result of US-supported reconciliation talks.
A joint study by think tanks Polis and Nexo found that Venezuela saw three times as many street protests in the first nine months of 2026 as in all of 2025.
Political analyst Beningno Alarcon described Machado's return as the most significant political event since 3 January.
Crowds welcome Venezuela's María Machado after months in exile
The Trump administration backed Maduro's deputy, Delcy Rodríguez, as leader.
Machado fled Venezuela last December.
Machado attended Mass at a church in the state of Lara.
Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado returns from exile
María Corina Machado returned to Venezuela after more than 10 months in exile.
Marco Rubio attributed Machado's safe return to U.S.-supported reconciliation talks.
Machado was briefly arrested in January 2025.
“the conditions allowing for the safe return of Ms. Machado to Venezuela is the direct result of the U.S. supported reconciliation talks which has already seen hundreds of political prisoners freed and hundreds of political opposition figures return from exile.”
Venezuela's opposition leader Machado returns from months in exile
The US seized Venezuela's then president Nicolas Maduro just weeks after Maria Corina Machado left.
Maria Corina Machado returned to Venezuela after more than 10 months in exile.
Maria Corina Machado is a Nobel Peace Prize winner.
Opposition leader María Machado returns to Venezuela
The US seized President Nicolás Maduro in January.
Machado was photographed attending Mass at a church in the Venezuelan state of Lara, surrounded by supporters.
Edmundo González confirmed Machado's arrival and said she was on Venezuelan soil.
Venezuelans demand elections in first national protest in nearly two years
The negotiations are backed by the US and do not include Machado's political movement.
Maria Corina Machado is a Nobel Peace Prize winner.
Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia claims to have won the 2024 election according to vote tallies by the opposition.
Venezuela opposition renews support for Maria Corina Machado as leader
The opposition coalition renewed its demand for free elections in Venezuela.
Edmundo Gonzalez wrote on social media supporting the opposition's 14 proposals for a democratic transition.
Members of the opposition’s Unitary Democratic Platform (PUD) agreed in a meeting in Caracas to recognise and support the leadership of Maria Corina Machado.
“Political reconciliation talks between the interim Venezuelan government and 2015 National Assembly representatives are producing tangible reforms in civil liberties and political rights, laying the groundwork for credible elections and a democratic transition,”
US lifts sanctions on Venezuela's top legislator
In 2018, the State Department said that Jorge Rodriguez was given prominent government positions by Maduro to help him maintain power and solidify his authoritarian rule.
The US Treasury lifted sanctions on Venezuela's central bank and its state-owned national airline earlier this year.
Jorge Rodriguez has held the position of National Assembly president since 2021.
Dems demanding Venezuela brief face State Department fury as senators leave town
The briefing postponement request came from a Republican majority staffer on the Foreign Relations Committee, who told State early Oct. 1 that the Senate had left town and asked to move the briefing until November.
Sens. Jeanne Shaheen, Jack Reed, Martin Heinrich, and Elizabeth Warren challenged the legality and prudence of the deal in a letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, War Secretary Pete Hegseth, and Energy Secretary Chris Wright.
NABEP currently produces roughly 220,000 barrels a day and has said it plans to more than double production to 500,000 barrels a day by late 2028.
Venezuelans rally for opposition leader's return and presidential elections
US special forces abducted Maduro from his Caracas home in January.
Machado's aide Claudia Macero returned from exile to Venezuela on Sunday.
Delcy Rodriguez told the UN General Assembly that Venezuela would hold elections as part of a transition to full democracy but did not give a date.
“We hope this transition process leads us to presidential elections and consolidates a free, democratic country that will be the main ally of the United States,”