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Manifestante con un cartel durante la protesta opositora en Caracas
Una persona sostiene un cartel durante la manifestación de la oposición venezolana en Caracas para exigir un cronograma electoral y elecciones presidenciales en 2027. · EFE / Miguel Gutiérrez vía Alberto News

Thousands protest in Venezuela demanding 2027 elections and Machado's return

Thousands marched in Caracas and other states demanding presidential elections in 2027, an electoral timetable and the return of María Corina Machado, while…

--- The context --- Thousands of people took to the streets on Thursday in Caracas and other Venezuelan states to demand presidential elections in 2027 and a democratic transition with opposition leader and 2025 Nobel Peace Prize winner María Corina Machado in the Presidency. --- The facts --- From a point in western Caracas, protesters advanced chanting 'Elections now' and gathered in a city square, joined by leaders of the Democratic Unitary Platform, human rights activists and leaders of Vente Venezuela, Machado's party. Machado wrote on her X account that the Venezuelan people are determined to be free and to keep advancing until they win their freedom. Former lawmaker Piero Maroun predicted during the rally that there would very soon be presidential elections with Machado in the Presidency. --- The positions --- Vente Venezuela activist Carlos Fernández praised as a historic feat the victory the opposition attributes to Edmundo González Urrutia in the 2024 presidential election, even though the electoral authority proclaimed Nicolás Maduro the winner without publishing detailed results, and said acting president Delcy Rodríguez would be voted out in 2027. In parallel, the chavista government and a sector of the opposition are holding negotiations that, after three rounds of dialogue, have produced no concrete agreements on holding elections; former lawmaker Dirorah Figuera, the opposition's lead negotiator, says the country's great demand is presidential elections in 2027. The march also demanded freedom for political prisoners: the NGO Foro Penal counts 322, after the mass releases since last January in which at least 1,046 Venezuelans have been freed, according to Delcy Rodríguez last August. --- What remains unknown --- It remains to be seen whether the negotiations will produce a concrete electoral timetable and whether Machado will be able to return to the country: she has been abroad since December, her team says she has been prevented from returning, and a political ban weighs on her. --- Unanswered questions --- Will there be a presidential electoral timetable for 2027? Will Machado be able to return to Venezuela and run without the ban that kept her out in 2024? What will happen to the 322 political prisoners counted by Foro Penal? --- EPM analysis --- The street spoke again in Venezuela: the opposition resumed mass protests after Maduro's capture and the pause that followed the repression after the 2024 presidential election. 📌 EPM Take: In EPM's view, the demand that filled the streets of Caracas is elementary and democratic: an electoral timetable, presidential elections in 2027 and the return of the leader who won the opposition primaries. No transition will be complete while 322 political prisoners remain behind bars and the primary winner cannot enter her own country. Peaceful, massive citizen pressure is today the clearest engine of the Venezuelan transition, and the negotiations will only matter if they end in dates, guarantees and full freedom for those detained.
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