Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado has won the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize for her efforts in promoting democratic rights in her home country, the Norwegian Nobel Committee said on Friday.
“As the leader of the democracy movement in Venezuela, María Corina Machado is one of the most extraordinary examples of civilian courage in Latin America in recent times,” the committee said in a statement.
“She is receiving the Nobel Peace Prize 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,” it said.
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro’s government routinely targeted its real or perceived opponents ahead of last year’s presidential election, including Machado who was set to run against Maduro.
The government disqualified her and Edmundo Gonzalez, who had never run for office before, took her place. The lead-up to the election saw widespread repression, including disqualifications, arrests and human rights violations.
The crackdown on dissent further increased after the electoral authorities who are mostly Maduro allies declared him the winner despite credible evidence to the contrary.
Protests followed across the country after the election results were announced and the government cracked down resulting in more than 20 deaths. They also prompted the end of diplomatic relations between Venezuela and various countries, including Argentina.
In September 2024, the European Parliament voted in favor of a non-binding resolution stating that Gonzalez, not Maduro, is the legitimate winner of the presidential election.
“This is not an issue of the left or the right, this is an issue of freedom versus oppression, this is an issue of corruption versus justice and this is an issue of a brutal violation of human rights versus respect for them,” she said.
Machado went into hiding and has not been seen in public since January. A Venezuelan court issued an arrest warrant for Gonzalez, who moved to Spain and was granted asylum.
