On October 10th, the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to María Corina Machado, a courageous and committed Venezuelan woman who, with perseverance and by peaceful means, has faced countless challenges in her struggle for democracy and freedom, without being intimidated.
On the contrary, she has accepted all challenges with firmness and determination to lead her country, with perseverance and peaceful means, to live and walk the paths of development, unity and harmony. A leader of the Venezuelan opposition, she is a “courageous and committed defender of peace,” as stated by Jørgen Watne Frydnes, chair of the Nobel Committee, and “keeps the flame of democracy alive in the midst of growing darkness.”
With immense humility and astonishment, María Corina heard of her nomination for the award, which she did not take for herself, but immediately stated was “an immense recognition of the struggle of all Venezuelans and an impetus to complete our task: to conquer freedom”. She added that she dedicated the prize to the long-suffering people of Venezuela.
Who is María Corina:
María Corina Machado (56) is an industrial engineer specialised in finance and a graduate of the public policy leadership programme at Yale University (USA). She has been involved in Venezuelan politics for more than 23 years, always in defence of democracy and electoral transparency.
In 2002, she co-founded the NGO Súmate, dedicated to promoting citizen participation and electoral integrity. In 2010, she was elected deputy for the state of Miranda, becoming the most voted legislator in the country. She also participated in the 2012 opposition presidential primaries and founded the political movement Vente Venezuela.
Her career has been marked by confrontation with the government: she was dismissed as a deputy after denouncing human rights violations at the OAS, has been banned from leaving the country for the past eight years and has been accused of treason and conspiracy without any evidence being presented.
Barred from running in the 2024 presidential elections, she backed the candidacy of Edmundo González Urrutia, managing to unite the opposition and extensively document his victory, which the government refused to recognise. After calling for mass mobilisations, she had to go into hiding and, in 2025, she appeared briefly in Caracas, where she was detained for a few hours.
She has participated remotely in international events and has issued critical statements of government measures she considers arbitrary.
To this day, she has been forced to remain in hiding, but through her messages, she expresses her democratic resolve, asserting the need for civil liberties, justice, and peace in order to bring stability to Venezuela. She believes in respect for private property and the rule of law, as well as the inclusion of all to generate prosperity, wealth, and freedom in Venezuela. She is a woman with a history of foresight, determination, and courage. Furthermore, she has been able to unite Venezuelans in the pursuit of democracy in a consistent and peaceful manner, always speaking clearly and firmly against injustices and abuses. She has remained steadfast and has never given up in her resistance to the militarisation of Venezuelan society.
All these factors have led the Nobel Peace Prize Committee to consider her worthy of the award.
