María Corina Machado, a Venezuelan opposition leader and longtime democracy advocate, was awarded the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize for her determined efforts to defend and expand democratic rights in her country. The Norwegian Nobel Committee said she was honored “for her tireless work promoting democratic rights for the people of Venezuela and for her struggle to achieve a just and peaceful transition from dictatorship to democracy.”
Born in 1967 in Caracas, Machado trained as an industrial engineer and became active in civic organizations and electoral monitoring early in her career. She was a cofounder of Súmate, an NGO focused on citizen oversight and free elections, and later entered electoral politics, serving in the Venezuelan National Assembly from 2011 until 2014, when government institutions aligned with the regime moved to strip her of office.
In the lead-up to the 2024 presidential election, Machado won the opposition’s primary overwhelmingly, but was later disqualified from running by Venezuela’s Comptroller General and Supreme Court — a move widely viewed as politically motivated. Despite that, she remained a central and unifying figure for opposition forces.
Amid escalating threats, political repression, and the fracturing of many opposition groups, Machado went into hiding for extended periods while still coordinating political strategy and outreach from within Venezuela. In announcing the prize, the Nobel Committee praised her as “one of the most extraordinary examples of civilian courage in Latin America” who “keeps the flame of democracy burning amid a growing darkness.”
Reactions to her award were swift and varied: many international and Latin American observers saw the Nobel as a powerful endorsement of democratic resistance under authoritarian pressure, while supporters in Venezuela hailed it as recognition not just of Machado but of the broader democratic movement. Some critics, however, pointed to her past political positions and rhetoric — especially calls she made in earlier years about the role of potential foreign intervention — as sources of concern.
The formal Nobel ceremony will be held on 10 December 2025 in Oslo, Norway, when Machado will receive the medal, diploma, and prize sum accompanying the award. Her Nobel Peace Prize marks a pivotal moment in Venezuela’s democratic struggle, amplifying global attention on the country’s crisis and reaffirming the importance of nonviolent, rights-based resistance in the face of repression.
