The Norwegian Nobel Committee awarded the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize to Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado for her “unwavering efforts in promoting democratic rights” and peacefully fighting for a transition from dictatorship to democracy.
Describing her as “a courageous and dedicated champion of peace,” the committee stated Machado has maintained “the flame of democracy burning in the face of an increasing darkness.”
Machado, a former lawmaker and founder of the pro-democracy organisation Súmate, has spent over two decades pushing for free and fair elections in Venezuela — often at great personal risk. The committee praised her as “one of the most extraordinary examples of civilian courage in Latin America in recent times.”
Voice of a Nation in Crisis
Once the most prosperous of Latin America’s democracies, Venezuela fell into authoritarianism and economic devastation. Nearly 8 million have fled, with the remainder facing desperate poverty, political repression, and repression of opposition.
Machado became a rallying point for the opposition, long divided. Her message — that democracy should be defended by ballots, not bullets. She managed to mobilise international attention and civil society toward Venezuela’s deteriorating crisis.
Barred but Unbroken
The regime barred Machado from participating in the 2024 presidential election, even though she was the strongest opposition candidate. Instead of resigning, she endorsed Edmundo González Urrutia, mobilizing hundreds of thousands of volunteers to watch voting centers.
Despite widespread intimidation, citizens documented vote counts demonstrating that the opposition triumphed decisively — counts the government then refused to certify.
The committee called these efforts “innovative and courageous, peaceful and democratic.”
A Message Beyond Venezuela
In honoring Machado, the Nobel Committee sent a wider warning that democracy is “in retreat” everywhere, with increasingly elections no longer being free or fair.
“When dictators take power, it is important to identify the brave defenders of freedom who emerge and fight back,” the statement said.
Forced underground but not into exile, Machado stays in Venezuela — a choice the committee termed “an act of moral defiance that has inspired millions.”
“Maria Corina Machado has demonstrated that democracy’s tools are peace’s tools,” the committee declared.
https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/peace/2025/press-release/
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