As María Corina Machado drove through rural Venezuela to the city of Maracaibo, hundreds of people waited for her along the roadside. She was dressed in white and wore rosaries around her neck, as usual, and Venezuelans gathered to cheer her on, touch her, and hand her their babies for a blessing. They came from afar, despite few resources and the risk of government retaliation, “just to see the caravan of hope pass by,” said María Beatriz Martínez, a politician who joined Machado on the trip.