Before she can rebuild Venezuela, Machado will have to find her way back in

In a different world María Corina Machado would be leading Venezuela.

That's exactly what many Venezuelans expected after authoritarian leader Nicolás Maduro was ousted from power earlier this year following his capture by U.S. forces.

Instead, the opposition leader, who won the Nobel Peace Prize for promoting democracy, is on the outside looking in, even though Maduro is sitting in a U.S. prison. So, when does Machado plan to return to her home country? And how much of the groundwork can she begin to lay from hiding?

Machado visited NPR headquarters this month, and in an interview on NPR's Newsmakers video podcast discussed her new book The Freedom Manifesto, the difficult task of rebuilding from the ground up, and the pressures she faces not only as a global figure, but as a human being and mother.

You can watch the Newsmakers interview with Machado above. Below are highlights from our conversation.

On her eventual return to Venezuela

Machado has said she hopes to return home by the end of this year, or early next year. She snuck out of Venezuela late last year to claim her Nobel Peace Prize, She tells NPR host Mary Louise Kelly there are several factors impacting that homecoming.

"I'm sure you're aware that I've been accused of everything from terrorism to [being a] martyr. Just because we were able to organize this society and to defeat the regime by a landslide, that's really started on this brutal wave of repression against the Venezuelan people. Me included."

Machado goes on to describe threats of violence made against her, and all of the people surrounding her. She felt leaving was the safest option for most of them.

Machado says she hopes that the United States will continue to back Venezuelan figures who have spoken against the previous regime.

"The role the U.S. government is playing right now represents an element of pressure for the regime not to act against many of the political actors and social actors that are starting to go back to Venezuela," she said.

Balancing the personal with the professional

In addition to being a global leader, Machado is a mother of three. She has written that one of the most difficult burdens she carries is the guilt for exposing her family to danger and scrutiny.

"I think women in our generation, we want it all. We want to serve our nation. We want to be good neighbors. We want to develop our careers. We want to be good sisters and daughters and friends and moms and wives. And it's hard to do it all the same."

She recalled the moment she realized that she needed to make her daughter leave Venezuela to ensure her safety.

"It was the hardest day in my life because I had to choose. And I decided that in order to be a good mother and protect my children, but also to serve my country, I had to put my children in a safe place," she explained.

"And I'm very grateful, because the U.S. was that place where they could study. I wasn't able to be at their graduation days. I was through a screen. The only proud mom who wasn't present. And that's why I felt guilty. But at the same time, I've done it for them, for millions of children, I think, and love as mine as well. And because I know that they will be able to go back to a proud nation, that will be an example of peace, freedom, justice and opportunities for all in the future and will never, ever again suffer under tyranny."

The first thing she'll do upon returning

Taking in the sights and smells of her home country is what Machado first thinks of when prompted to imagine her return. But when it comes to policy, she says another election will be the first order of business, at the guidance of President Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

"We have accepted that we – we should go into a new election to relegitimize what we what we already did. Imagine, with the toughest, extreme, unjust conditions we had in 2024, in which a third of the population of Venezuela who had been forced to leave have were not allowed to vote. And we did win and we proved it with almost 70% of the vote. Imagine what's going to happen with free and fair elections."

Machado says that the groundwork is being laid for a transition of power that would focus on asking Venezuelans from all walks of life, and ranks of power what a just transition would look and feel like to them. And that of course, includes a transparent and clean election.

"We've turned [into] experts in how elections can be perverted, and how fraud can really be expanded to unthinkable dimensions within a country. But we also turned ourselves into experts on how to overcome those conditions. So now we know precisely what ought to be done. And we want to turn Venezuela into a blueprint of elections that are trusted by everyone."

Reckoning with the previous regime

Machado says she's not concerned that the current interim president and member of Maduro's inner circle Delcy Rodriguez will cement her own hold on power with a potential bid for election.

"That's not their nature. Certainly the only way they have done the things that have done lately, and started to open the economy and the political rights is because they're being forced to. I mean, this is the same tyranny that had been in place for 27 years that has tortured, persecuted, killed, silenced. I mean, there are testimonies that are heartbreaking of what these people have done to stay in power and they're willing to do anything unless they are stopped."She says that a new election is a chance for those aligned with the previous regime to acquaint themselves with peace and order, and an opportunity for reconciliation with Venezuela.

And what about repercussions?"Our approach is, we want justice and we want the truth to be known, so that never again, these atrocities are repeated in Venezuela. But yes, we need to give incentives and we need to give guarantees to those that still hold power to understand that it's also in their own behalf that they need to facilitate this transition."

The difficulties of restructuring that lie ahead

Machado concedes there's a great deal of work to do to rebuild Venezuela, but also says she sees opportunity for her people at this moment.

"Venezuela's institutions have been torn down. There's not one standing firm. Venezuela is currently in the last place globally in rule of law. It's almost in the last place in terms of corruption. I mean, if you want to have the economy starting to rebuild and we want investments and we want businesses to come in and want to open the economy, we need to give certainty that what had been done by this regime in the past will never happen again."

She elaborates on the trust she hopes to rebuild with Venezuelans, and the rest of the world.

"Your assets won't be confiscated. The agreements and contracts will be respected. You need talented people. They will come back. And in order to have all those Venezuelans come back, you have to assure that we will have education, health, jobs, services for themselves and their people and their children."

"You're saying these things go hand in hand. Business doesn't flourish until human rights and the people do," adds Kelly.

"Absolutely," replies Machado.