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María Corina Machado wins Nobel Peace Prize for her fight for democracy
Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado, founder of the liberal party Vente Venezuela and one of the most outspoken critics of Nicolás Maduro’s government, has been awarded the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize for what the Norwegian Nobel Committee called her “courageous defense of democracy and civil rights in Venezuela.”
Announcing the award in Oslo, the Committee praised Machado for “keeping the flame of democracy alive in the face of growing darkness,” highlighting her “extraordinary example of civic bravery in Latin America’s recent history.”
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Machado, who has been living in hiding since Venezuela’s disputed 2024 presidential elections, reacted with visible emotion upon hearing the news.
“My God… I have no words,” she said in a brief recorded message shared from an undisclosed location. “This is not my achievement alone, it belongs to a movement, to a nation. I accept it humbly, in the name of the Venezuelan people.”
In a later written statement, Machado added: “This immense recognition of the struggle of all Venezuelans strengthens our resolve to finish what we started to win our freedom. We are on the threshold of victory, and today, more than ever, we count on the support of the democratic nations of the world. Venezuela will be free.”
A Life Shaped by Resistance
Born in Caracas in 1967, María Corina Machado trained as an industrial engineer before turning to politics in the early 2000s. In 2002, she co-founded Súmate, a citizen organization that promoted electoral transparency and voter participation. The group played a key role in organizing the 2004 recall referendum against then-president Hugo Chávez, an experience that would define her political path.
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By 2010, Machado had been elected to Venezuela’s National Assembly as one of its most voted members, representing Miranda state. Her time in office was short-lived: in 2014, following her participation in mass anti-government protests known as “La Salida,” demonstrations that demanded democratic reforms and denounced human rights violations, she was expelled from Congress and barred from holding public office.
Since then, Machado has faced years of harassment, travel restrictions, and political persecution. Venezuelan authorities accuse her of treason and “terrorist activities,” charges she has consistently denied.
“My work has always been about votes, not bullets,” she once said in an interview, a phrase that now echoes as a central theme of her Nobel recognition.
From Political Candidate to Symbol of a Nation
In 2023, Machado won Venezuela’s opposition primaries with over 90% of the vote, becoming the leading challenger to Nicolás Maduro in the presidential race. However, she was later disqualified from running by the country’s Supreme Court, a move widely condemned as politically motivated.
When she was blocked from the ballot, Machado endorsed diplomat Edmundo González Urrutia as the opposition’s unity candidate, a decision that strengthened her image as both strategist and symbol of democratic resistance.
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The July 2024 presidential election became one of the most controversial in Venezuelan history. While independent observers and opposition witnesses claimed victory for González Urrutia, the government declared Maduro the winner. Protests erupted across the country, followed by mass arrests and violent crackdowns.
Amid the turmoil, Machado went into hiding. Despite her silence from public life, her voice continued to resonate through online statements and international appearances, including a remote address to the Brazilian Senate in late 2024.
Why the Nobel Committee Chose Her
The Nobel Committee said Machado’s “nonviolent commitment to democratic change, her insistence on civil discourse, and her refusal to abandon her country despite repression” made her an emblem of hope not only for Venezuela but for democratic movements across the Americas.
“Her leadership reminds us that peace is not the absence of conflict, but the persistence of courage,” Committee chair Kristian Berg Harpviken said.
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Machado’s recognition places her alongside other Latin American laureates such as Rigoberta Menchú (Guatemala, 1992) and Juan Manuel Santos (Colombia, 2016). Yet her situation remains unique, a Nobel laureate without the freedom to travel, and a political leader still wanted by her own government.
The Road Ahead
Machado’s Nobel Peace Prize comes at a turning point for Venezuela. The nation faces one of the deepest humanitarian crises in modern Latin American history, with millions displaced, inflation soaring, and political institutions weakened.
For her supporters, the award is not only a personal honor but a global acknowledgment of Venezuela’s struggle for freedom. Her campaign slogan, “Hasta el final” (“Until the end”), now takes on renewed meaning.
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“This Nobel Prize belongs to every Venezuelan who has refused to give up,” Machado said. “It is proof that the world is watching, and that truth and justice will prevail.”
As the news reverberates across Caracas, one thing is certain: María Corina Machado’s Nobel Prize is more than a recognition of the past, it’s a promise for Venezuela’s democratic future.
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