María Corina Machado, Venezuela's primary opposition leader and a Nobel Peace Prize winner, made a surprise return home on Monday after nearly a year in exile, drawing jubilant crowds in a direct challenge to the United States-backed interim government.
Thousands of people lined highways, toll plazas and city streets waving Venezuelan flags and chanting "Liberty!" as Machado travelled toward Caracas in a convoy of cars and motorbikes.
In Guacara, the Agence France-Presse (AFP) news agency witnessed Machado singing the national anthem as supporters packed out a plaza, waving flags and cheering her return.
Wearing her trademark white T-shirt and blue jeans, she leaned through the sunroof of a vehicle to wave to the crowds.
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.
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Her return puts Venezuela's most influential opposition figure back at the centre 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 on Monday at the Santa Rosa church in the western city of Barquisimeto, where supporters greeted her with chants of "Viva Maria Corina!"
Two Venezuelan exiles told AFP she had entered the country from neighbouring Colombia, although Colombian authorities did not immediately confirm that account.
She returns to a country much changed — nine months ago her nemesis president Nicolás Maduro was captured in a US military operation and jailed in the US.
But to the democratic opposition's dismay, his deputy Delcy Rodríguez took over as interim president, with the US' blessing.
Since then, the Nobel laureate has been forced to watch from exile in Panama as US-backed talks on a political transition took place without her.
The interim government has promised elections but has not yet set a date.
Machado has repeatedly praised US President Donald Trump for launching the risky operation, and even gifted him the Nobel medal she received.
Trump has repeatedly expressed satisfaction with Rodriguez as she fulfils key US demands, particularly on granting access to Venezuelan oil.
Trump said Sunday he was not aware of Machado's return, adding: "But I think she's a very nice woman. She gave me her Nobel prize, so how can I say anything else?"
"We're doing very well in Venezuela," he said.
US secretary of state Marco Rubio insisted Machado's return had been made possible by the US-backed talks — and he urged her to support them.
"We expect all political actors to support these talks which represent the best chance Venezuela has had in thirty years to peacefully achieve not just a free and fair election but an enduring democracy," he said.
Last week, thousands demonstrated in Caracas and other cities, demanding Machado's return and elections.
Many leaders from her Vente Venezuela party have recently returned from exile that was prompted by a post-election purge that left 28 dead and resulted in more than 2,400 arrests, including dozens of Machado's associates.
Her party wants elections in 2027 and for her to be allowed to run, unlike the last presidential vote.
Venezuela sits on the world's largest proven oil reserves, but its current production of one million barrels of crude per day falls far short of the three million it averaged decades ago, due to years of corruption and poor management.
Rodriguez has granted the US access to a huge chunk of the country's crude reserves and signed agreements with foreign companies to search for, produce, and export oil and gas.
