María Corina Machado has been hearing for months that she can return to Venezuela whenever she wants, but this week, in Panama, it became clear that doing so is considerably more complicated. Accompanying her on a journey that was supposed to end in Venezuela—first by sea, and then, when that option fell through, by air via the Dutch Caribbean islands (in less than 24 hours)—she faced successive setbacks: the boat departure from Panama was blocked, and her attempts to fly to Aruba and Curaçao were thwarted. These were her fifth, sixth, and seventh attempts to return to her country since she left it clandestinely nine months earlier.

Un exilio sin retorno.?. ¡

María Corina Machado lleva meses escuchando que puede regresar a Venezuela cuando quiera, esta semana, en Panamá, se pudo comprobar que hacerlo es bastante más complicado, acompañarla en una travesía que debía terminar en Venezuela, primero por mar, y cuando esa posibilidad se frustró por aire, a través de las islas neerlandesas del Caribe (en menos de 24 horas), se cerraron sucesivamente la salida en barco desde Panamá y los intentos de volar a Aruba y Curaçao. Eran los intentos quinto, sexto y séptimo de regresar a su país desde que salió clandestinamente de él nueve meses antes.