Nobel laureate Machado vows to return to Venezuela despite ally’s detention

WASHINGTON — Nobel peace laureate Maria Corina Machado said Monday she still planned to return to Venezuela despite the detention of an opposition ally shortly after his initial release. “This does not affect my return in the slightest. Quite the contrary,” she told reporters in Washington. “I have made it clear that I have some tasks to complete before returning, and once we achieve those, I’ll be back in Venezuela,” she said. Machado, who quietly left Venezuela to receive the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo in December, did not set a time for when she would return. “I have been very clear that my intention is to return to Venezuela as soon as possible and join Venezuelans in their progress toward a democratic transition,” she said. Juan Pablo Guanipa, the former National Assembly vice president who is close to Machado, was freed Sunday in Caracas along with several other opposition figures. But Guanipa was taken away hours later by heavily armed men, Machado said, after he publicly demanded democratic elections in Venezuela. Venezuela’s interim President Delcy Rodriguez has released hundreds

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