Venezuelan politician wins Nobel Peace Prize
The Nobel Peace Prize goes to María Corina Machado, a Venezuelan opposition leader. She wanted to run for president against Nicolás Maduro in 2024 but was disqualified.
María Corina Machado (58) has become Venezuela's best-known opposition leader. Dressed in white and with a rosary around her neck, she travels the country. Wherever she goes, people weep, cheer, or touch her. Without a bodyguard, but with thousands of followers, she campaigns for change. Last September, she also received the Václav Havel Prize for Human Rights, awarded by the Council of Europe, the human rights treaty organization with 46 member states and an independent body from the European Union.
Machado is opposing the "stolen" presidential election in Venezuela. The Venezuelan electoral council declared Nicolás Maduro the winner of the election at the end of July. According to the council, Maduro received 52 percent of the vote. However, according to opposition data, opposition candidate Edmundo González Urrutia received the support of over two-thirds of Venezuelan voters.
In a short time, she managed to unite the divided opposition and rekindle hope in a country paralyzed for years by poverty and fear. Under President Nicolás Maduro, the economy collapsed, millions of Venezuelans fled, and protests were brutally suppressed. Machado promises economic recovery, family reunification, and an end to corruption. "For the future of our children," her supporters chant when they see her speak.
Machado lived in hiding for months last year. She said at the time that she feared for her life, her freedom, and that of her fellow citizens. The opposition leader was barred from participating in the July presidential elections. González Urrutia, who did participate in the elections, fled to Spain, where he was granted political asylum.
Machado was born on October 7, 1967, in Caracas to a wealthy family. Her father, steel entrepreneur Henrique Machado Zuloaga (who died in 2023), and her mother, psychologist Corina Parisca, provided her with a stable childhood and access to a good education. She studied industrial engineering at the Catholic University Andrés Bello and earned a master's degree in finance from the Instituto de Estudios Superiores de Administración (IESA) in Caracas. In 2009, she participated in Yale University's World Fellows Program.
In 1992, she founded the Fundación Atenea, an organization that supports street children and orphans in Caracas, and later headed the Opportunitas Foundation. But her name only became nationally known in 2002 when she founded Súmate, a citizens' initiative that monitors elections and demands transparency.
In 2011, she was elected to Congress, but three years later she was removed from office after speaking at the Organization of American States in Washington. She was subsequently banned from travel and prosecuted several times. Since then, she has primarily operated from safe houses, addressing the public through videos or secret meetings.
Machado has three children, who live abroad for safety reasons because she herself has been repeatedly threatened. She always carries a rosary—a gift from her supporters—and prays with it daily.
Despite threats and political exclusion, she continued to fight for free elections. She ran in the opposition elections in 2012 and wanted to run in the 2024 presidential election, but the government barred her from participating. Internationally, Machado is seen as a symbol of courage and perseverance. She was included on the BBC's 100 Women list (2018) and Time Magazine's list of the 100 most influential people in the world (2025). Supporters praise her tenacity and faith—a woman who does not give up on her country.
The prize will therefore not go to current US President Donald Trump, who himself had requested it several times. Trump has received international support for his efforts. Earlier this month, the Prime Minister of Cambodia announced that he had nominated the US president for the prize. Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu also called for Trump to receive the prize for his efforts to end the conflict between Israel and Hamas. The president himself believes he deserves the award. Washington reportedly lobbied for Trump.
