Venezuelan opposition and pro-democracy activist Maria Corina Machado received the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize on Friday.
Machado was hailed by the Nobel Committee as "one of the most outstanding examples of civic courage in Latin America in recent times" and praised for "her tireless work to promote the democratic rights of the Venezuelan people."
For years, she has campaigned against Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro Moros, whose 12-year rule is considered illegitimate by many countries.
Machado) has become the main voice of opposition to the Chavista regime led by Nicolás Maduro, which has ruled Venezuela for decades.
His mentor was former Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, whose socialist political ideology became known to many simply as Chavismo.
For years, Machado was perceived as an enemy of the ruling regime, an opposition figure who, even when Chavismo was at its strongest, remained unwavering in her criticism of both Hugo Chavez himself and his system of government.
In response, the authorities imposed increasing restrictions on her: they banned her from leaving the country, stripped her of her position as a member of the National Assembly, and denied her the right to hold public office, measures justified by her alleged ties to American “imperialism.”
Despite these measures, Machado continued her political work and eventually became the undisputed leader of the Venezuelan opposition.
And she achieved all of this through sheer determination.
Between 2023 and 2024, she traveled across Venezuela twice, even though roads were blocked, flights were canceled, and animal blood was thrown on her car.
In the final months of 2024, a warrant was issued for her arrest.
During her tours through the crowded streets, people gave her rosaries that she still keeps, marked with names, places, and dates, and wears around her neck.
At the biggest rallies, he can always be seen wearing up to ten rosaries on his chest.
"With the help of each of them, I can remember why I do what I do and how much prayers encourage us to continue the fight," said the opposition leader.
She was speaking after the July 2024 elections, in which Nicolas Maduro was declared the winner, despite allegations of electoral fraud.
National Electoral Council (CNE), the government's electoral body, never released detailed results to legitimize his alleged victory, despite demands from the international community.
Less than an hour since CNE announced that Maduro had won, Machado went public and announced that her candidate, Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia, had won the election.
And she had evidence to back it up.
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Machado, who began her political career in election observation organizations, this time collaborated with other opposition activists to monitor the automated voting system.
This allowed them to conduct a parallel vote count with the help of the official record kept by their witnesses.
With the help of this, the opposition exposed what they called "Maduro's theft" and led countries such as the United States to recognize Gonzalez as the winner based on the "convincing evidence" that was presented.
"It took a long time to win, and declaring victory may also take time," Machado reiterated in moving voice messages to her supporters.
"And that's why we have to resist — we have to stay close to the people and tell them that we will not abandon them, because we will go all the way."
"Until the end" became her slogan, turning Machado into a kind of savior of the people and leader of an opposition coalition that had seen her as a thorn in the side for years due to her stance of opposing dialogue with Maduro's government and the electoral process, in favor of international military intervention.
But Machado, as she told me in an interview in November 2023, has changed — just like millions of Venezuelans:
"We've made many mistakes, and when mistakes are made based on what you believe is right, or because you don't have all the information, or because you underestimated what you're facing, you have to learn from them."
"We were discovering ourselves. We realized, 'Hey, we can do this.'"
Rebel for Chavismo and the opposition
Marija Corina Machado Pariska has three children and is the oldest of four sisters.
Her father was a prestigious businessman in the metals industry whose companies were nationalized by Hugo Chavez, Maduro's predecessor.
Her mother is a famous psychologist and tennis player.
An industrial engineer specializing in finance, Maria Corina worked in the business sector before joining organizations focused on poverty alleviation and election monitoring.
Thus, she became closer to the Republican Party in the United States of America — the country in which she lived and with which she maintained political relations and connections.
Chavismo has always seen her as a collaborator with the "imperialist conspirators."
The first charge against her was for allegedly taking illegal money from American foundations, allegations that led to a three-year travel ban.
She entered the National Assembly in 2010 as an independent MP with an anti-communist message, and in 2012 she lost the opposition presidential primary to Enrique Capriles.
Due to her disqualifications, Machado has spent the last ten years participating in politics outside the system — advocating for the “overthrow of Maduro” in 2014 alongside Leopoldo Lopez and supporting protests in 2017 and 2019.
She was the first to declare the government a "dictatorship", rejected all attempts at negotiations with Chavismo, defended the use of force to remove Maduro, and opposed the main opposition parties, accusing them of being "collaborators".
This, coupled with her insistence on remaining in the country despite threats of arrest — and perhaps because of her family's ties to the metals industry — earned her the nickname "The Steel Lady."
As the leadership of Capriles, Lopez, and Juan Guaido began to fade, she emerged as the most obvious option — the last of a generation — to oppose Maduro.
A new connection with the people
In academic circles, it is often said that Venezuelans have a political culture of caudillismo (strongman).
Starting with Simón Bolívar, the 19th and 20th centuries were filled with personalistic and paternalistic leaders.
Although it is actually older than that, many trace the roots of this political culture to the discovery and subsequent nationalization of oil — a resource that gave rise to the idea of a “magic state” that cares for every Venezuelan.
Hugo Chavez, in his own way and for specific reasons, was the latest exponent of this.
Machado, from an ideologically opposing standpoint and as a woman, proposed a new way of connecting with the people through the same political culture.
This became evident at the massive rallies she held during the 2024 election process: people — men, women, and children from all walks of life — shouted at her, hugged her, and kissed her on the face and hands.
They called her "my love", "my queen", and told her, "take care, my girl".
They saw her as a daughter, mother, and grandmother.
They prayed for her.
They admired and valued her because she was "areča" (fierce), "brave and consistent".
On January 13, 2012, President Hugo Chávez delivered his annual State of the Nation address before the National Assembly.
During a series of questions from elected MPs, the courageous voice of a 44-year-old opposition MP stood out.
"How can you talk about respecting the private sector when you are committed to expropriation, which is essentially theft?" asked Maria Corina Machado.
Chavez responded, after a long silence and amidst shouts from the ruling party bench: "I suggest you win the primary first, deputy, because you are not in the same league to debate with me."
After another pause, he added: "Eagles don't catch flies, Miss."
Twelve years later, Machado won the primary with 95 percent of the vote and the presidential election — on the electoral list with González Urrutia — with 70 percent of the vote, according to the official data she presented to the world on that occasion.
And she was awarded, according to the Norwegian Nobel Committee, "for having dedicated years to the struggle for the freedom of the Venezuelan people."
The fly then became an eagle: it is she who now resides in the hearts of most Venezuelans.
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