The leader of the opposition to the Nicolás Maduro regime in Venezuela, María Corina Machado, was awarded the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize this Friday (10) for her tireless fight against the repression of the Chavista dictatorship.
Machado became a symbol of resistance in favor of democracy, political freedom and expression in a country sunk in an institutional, social and economic crisis.
Born in Caracas on October 7, 1967, the opposition leader’s father, Henrique Machado, was an important businessman in the metallurgical sector, and the family’s companies were expropriated by the Chavista regime.
Industrial engineer from Universidade Católica Andrés Bello and graduated in Finance from the Institute of Higher Studies in Administration, Corina Machado was a university professor in the area of Industrial Engineering.
Since the 1990s, Venezuela’s first Nobel Prize winner began to play a relevant role in Venezuelan civil society organizations. In 1992, she co-founded, with her mother, the Atenea Foundation, which is dedicated to welcoming and educating homeless children in Venezuela.
A few years later, he directed Oportuninas – between 1998 and 2002 – and supported assistance programs for children in extreme poverty. In 2002, he co-founded the organization Súmate, dedicated to defending free and transparent elections and citizens’ political rights.
In 2010, Corina Machado resigned as president of Súmate, which became known for overseeing elections in Venezuela, to run for a position as deputy in the National Assembly (Parliament), being elected from the state of Miranda with a record number of votes.
In 2011, she presented herself as a candidate in the primaries of the platform opposing the regime of Hugo Chávez Mesa da Unidad Democrática (MUD), a vote she lost to Henrique Capriles in 2012. That same year she founded the party Vente Venezuela (VV).
Since that time, Machado has become a resistant opponent of Chávez. A notable episode by the then deputy occurred in 2012, when she interrupted a speech by the dictator with the following phrase: “to expropriate is to steal”.
In 2014, when Chávez’s protégé, Nicolás Maduro, assumed power upon his death, Machado led, alongside Leopoldo López and Antonio Ledezma, a campaign called “La Salida”, which called on Venezuelans to participate in demonstrations to overthrow the Chavista regime.
In March of that year, Corina Machado was removed as deputy, when the president of the Chamber at that time, the Chavista Diosdado Cabello, accused the opponent of “violating the Constitution”. She was also accused of “instigating violent attacks” during anti-government protests during that period. She was banned from leaving the country and, in 2015, was disqualified from public office by the General Comptroller of Venezuela for one year due to alleged tax irregularities.
In 2023, Corina Machado announced her candidacy for president of Venezuela, but her candidacy was blocked by the regime. Furthermore, the Comptroller General increased his disqualification to 15 years, a decision widely condemned by the international community.
She, nevertheless, participated and won the opposition primaries, with 92.3% of the votes. The Venezuelan Judiciary then considered the vote “null” a few days later.
Machado gave up his place to historian Corina Yoris, but she was unable to register her candidacy due to “impediments” from electoral authorities allied with the Maduro dictatorship.
The Democratic Unitary Platform (PUD), the main anti-Chavista coalition, then chose to present diplomat Edmundo González Urrutia, who was supported by Corina Machado. He then ran as the opposition presidential candidate in the July 28 elections.
The National Electoral Council of Venezuela (CNE), however, proclaimed Nicolás Maduro as the winner of the sham elections, an announcement that was widely questioned inside and outside the country.
Since then, Machado has led demonstrations in Venezuela, despite remaining out of the spotlight after being kidnapped by regime forces. All this effort in favor of democracy was monitored by the Nobel committee, which justified the award by saying that it was fair “for his tireless work in promoting the democratic rights of the Venezuelan people and for his fight to achieve a fair and peaceful transition from dictatorship to democracy”
