Madrid, Spain – A whole bunch of Venezuelans waving flags and chanting “libertad” crammed a central Madrid plaza on Friday, as Venezuelan opposition chief, María Corina Machado, arrived for a symbolic ceremony to obtain the ‘Llave de Oro’ – or ‘Golden Key.’
Some within the crowd had travelled from throughout the nation to see her on her multi-day go to to Spain. Many sang alongside as an orchestra performed well-known Venezuelan songs.
Inside the town’s historic city corridor — and broadcast on a big display screen outdoors — Machado was given the celebrated award, an honor sometimes reserved for visiting heads of state.
The town’s mayor, José Luis Martínez-Almeida, stated it acknowledged her “combat for freedom, democracy and peace” in Venezuela, describing her as “the embodiment of the Venezuelan individuals’s resistance”.
Machado, responding, first wished the mayor a cheerful birthday earlier than saying she hoped to return to Venezuela quickly.
“Keys open doorways, and at this time they symbolize the opening to freedom for the Venezuelan nation,” she stated, including that she would someday reciprocate the dignity in a free Venezuela.
Many Venezuelans on the occasion stated they too deliberate to return residence if political change comes.
Maribel Santiago, who stated she has lived in Spain for 10 years, described Machado as a logo of hope and optimism for her nation. “I’ve my suitcases prepared,” she stated. “When María Corina returns, I’ll return too.”
One other Venezuelan within the crowd, 10-year-old Mónica, had travelled from Málaga together with her mom to see Machado. After the ceremony, the Venezuelan chief stopped to talk to her and Monica introduced her with flowers within the shade of the Venezuelan flag and a card. “She’s such an necessary individual to me,” she stated. “I’ll always remember this present day.”
The “Llave de Oro” has beforehand been awarded to solely a small variety of non-heads of state, underlining the political weight of the gesture.
Machado, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2025, had earlier met leaders of Spain’s conservative Well-liked Social gathering, together with Alberto Núñez Feijóo, and likewise met the chief from the right-wing social gathering Vox, Santiago Abascal..
She shouldn’t be anticipated to satisfy Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, who’s internet hosting a separate gathering of left-wing leaders in Barcelona this weekend.
Learn extra: Latin America’s left gather in Spain to counter far-right
Machado is due to participate in additional occasions over the approaching days, together with a mass rally on Saturday anticipated to attract 1000’s from Spain’s Venezuelan diaspora and a go to to the Senate on Monday.
Spain is residence to one of many largest Venezuelan communities in Europe — numbering near 700,000 — a lot of whom fled the nation’s extended political and financial disaster.
Machado additionally visited Edmundo González Urrutia in hospital. He had been anticipated to attend Saturday’s rally, however stated he can be unable to hitch on account of a follow-up medical process.
The retired diplomat stood in for Machado within the 2024 presidential election after she was barred from operating and is broadly believed by the opposition to have received the vote.
Machado has stated she’s going to return to Venezuela “quickly”, though no date has been given.
Featured picture: Maria Corina Machado embraces a younger woman in Madrid at a ceremony in her honor on April 17, 2026.
Picture credit score: Catherine Ellis for Latin America Studies
