Exiled opposition leader Maria Corina Machado returns to Venezuela

Venezuelan opposition leader and Nobel laureate Maria Corina Machado has returned to Venezuela after over ten months of exile.

Machado returned for the first time since last December to her home country that has seen deepened doubt over its democratic future.

In the Venezuelan city of Maracay, the 59-year-old was flanked by supporters who gathered along her route, waving national flags and chanting in celebration.

A caravan of vehicles followed her journey to the capital city.

Machado declared her homecoming in a social media post, saying "I am here. With you." Confirming her arrival, fellow opposition leader Edmundo Gonzalez wrote he would be by her side "very soon."

Machado had previously gone into hiding after being briefly detained for joining anti-government protest.

The US military seized her opponent, then-President Nicolas Maduro in January, a month after Machado secretly escaped Venezuela under the cover of darkness to collect her Nobel Peace Prize in Norway.

It was not immediately clear how she managed to get back from abroad after her prior efforts to return came to no avail, but a video distributed by Machado's party, Vente Venezuela, showed she appeared in Barquisimeto City on Sunday.

The politician, dressed in her trademark jeans and white shirt, was seen greeting people inside a church.

Later in the day, she was welcomed by an equally excited crowd in Caracas.

Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump said he knew nothing about Machado's return but he hopes she's safe.

(Reporter: Mr. president, we're seeing reports that Maria Corina Machado is back in Venezuela. What do you know about her return?)

Trump said, "I don't know anything about it, but I think she's a very nice woman. She gave me her Nobel Prize. So how can I say anything else? And I hope she's safe. She's a very nice woman. But we're doing really well in Venezuela."