Maria Corina Machado’s return to Venezuela has some of the same sweep and drama of Simon Bolivar’s return more than two centuries ago. But if she wants her story to end better than one of the great heroic deeds of 19th-century Latin America, she will have to match her passion for her nation with patience for change.

Here comes the country’s defining heroine, a Nobel laureate, finally returning home after repeated failed attempts and almost a year in exile, with thousands of Venezuelans rushing to greet her with admiration and pride. For anyone who has witnessed the suffering Venezuelans have endured in recent years, the images couldn’t be more emotional.

At a time when Venezuela is the subject of cynical geopolitical calculations, and while some unlikely political alliances form and a race for its oil assets begins, Machado’s dramatic reappearance on Sunday provides a missing ingredient in this story: hope. For Washington, it’s a timely reminder that this complex political transition will happen only if ordinary Venezuelans have a clear vision of a better future.

Machado’s homecoming strengthens the case for a political transition and a legitimate popular vote in Venezuela. It can’t be a coincidence that the day after her arrival in the capital, the U.S. State Department laid out its clearest plan yet for new elections, following a process of institutional........

© The Japan Times