Omar Gonzalez Returns to Venezuela: Is Maria Corina Next?
Speaking from Barcelona, Venezuela, Omar Gonzalez said Maria Corina Machado asked him to “clear the way for her”.
HAVANA TIMES – Vente Venezuela leader and former lawmaker Omar Gonzalez Moreno returned to Venezuela on Friday, August 28, 2026, after more than a year in exile. He is the first of the group known as the “macaws” to return to the country. They were close associates of Maria Corina Machado who spent more than 400 days under asylum at the Argentine Embassy in Caracas and were rescued in Operation Macaw*.
Gonzalez, a journalist, educator, and member of Vente Venezuela’s national leadership, left the country in May 2025 after being confined inside the diplomatic compound while it was under siege. He returned through the airport in Barcelona, Anzoátegui state, his native region, and his arrival had been announced in advance by both González himself and party spokespeople.
In his first remarks, he described the emotion of returning after three years away (including his confinement at the embassy and subsequent exile). He thanked the United States for its support — particularly Secretary of State Marco Rubio — and criticized Venezuela’s “failed state,” which he said had failed to respond adequately to recent natural disasters. He reiterated that he was returning with greater strength and hope to continue the struggle.
Shortly after arriving, he met with Vente Venezuela leaders and supporters at the Casa Sindical in Barcelona. The gathering gave him an opportunity to reunite with the party’s local grassroots supporters and reaffirm its organizational work on the ground.
“I spoke with the leader of the Venezuelan people, Maria Corina Machado, and she asked me to clear the way for her; that behind me, she is coming,” he told party members.
He added that he was returning to stand alongside the Venezuelan people in their struggle for freedom and democracy, and that the country needs to organize “intelligently” after years of destruction.
Maria Corina Machado
The opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize laureate celebrated Gonzalez’s return with an emphatic message on social media: “Our first macaw has landed in Venezuela… My dear Omar, I can’t tell you how thrilled I am about your return to your beloved Anzoátegui. Here’s to the swift return home of all Venezuelans!”
Gonzalez then emphasized the leader’s support and mandate. In a message written before his trip, he said: “With the support of María Corina Machado, Senator Rick Scott, the Venezuelan people, and representatives of the US Congress, I return to my homeland today with greater strength and hope. I am returning to my country to continue fighting, alongside my people, for freedom and democracy. Until the end!”
Within the opposition, Gonzalez’s return is being viewed as a symbolic step and, according to both Gonzalez and Maria Corina Machado, one that paves the way for the return of other Venezuelans and, eventually, Machado herself.
*Operation Guacamaya (Macaw) was the name of the rescue operation carried out in early May 2025 that enabled the departure of five Venezuelan opposition members who had been granted asylum in the Argentine Embassy in Caracas following a prolonged siege by Nicolas Maduro’s dictatorship.