Jorge Rodríguez denies blocking Machado's return

The president of Venezuela's National Assembly, Jorge Rodríguez, denied that the country's authorities are preventing the return of opposition leader María Corina Machado. According to the portal AlbertoNews, the remarks by the chavismo's chief negotiator were made this Friday, September 25, 2026, at the end of a round of negotiations with a sector of the opposition in Caracas.

The clarification follows a complaint by Machado's press team that the leader has tried to return to Venezuela from Panama on three occasions this week, without success. Machado, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, left Venezuelan territory in December 2025 to receive that award in Oslo, Norway, after spending nearly a year in hiding. With these latest incidents, her associates say at least seven failed attempts to return have now been made.

According to sources familiar with the case cited in the report, the recent difficulties stem from logistical and diplomatic obstacles in the Caribbean. A private flight scheduled to carry the opposition leader could not take off from Panama because the authorities of Curaçao, Bonaire and Aruba denied the corresponding landing permits. The return mechanism required approval from the aviation authorities of the destination countries, which rejected the requests to transit through their respective territories.

Asked by journalists about these allegations, Rodríguez dismissed claims of government obstruction. He also reaffirmed that the country's electoral calendar will proceed as scheduled, stating that all four elections planned (parliamentary, mayoral, gubernatorial and presidential) will be held within the time limits set by the Venezuelan Constitution.

In the coming days, attention will turn to whether the opposition leader's team seeks alternative routes of entry, or whether authorities in the Caribbean region change their position on flight permits for private aircraft arriving from Panama.