Who is Maria Corina Machado? Meet the winner of the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize

The Nobel Committee has awarded María Corina Machadothe2025 Nobel Peace Prize, praising her for “her tireless work promoting democratic rights for the people of Venezuela.” The Swedish Academy’s announcement ends weeks of speculation around a shortlist of 338 nominees – 244 individuals and 94 organizations – among whom former US president Donald Trump had been seen as the frontrunner.

How many women have won the Nobel Peace Prize?

According to the committee, “as leader of the democratic movement in Venezuela, María Corina Machado is one of the most extraordinary examples of civil courage in Latin America in recent times. Machado has been a key and unifying figure in an opposition once deeply divided – an opposition that found common ground in the demand for free elections and representative government.”

The 2024 Peace Prize went to Nihon Hidankyo, a national Japanese organization of atomic bomb survivors from Hiroshima and Nagasaki known as hibakusha, “for their efforts to achieve a world free of nuclear weapons and for demonstrating through survivor testimony that nuclear weapons must never be used again.”

Twenty women have received the Nobel Peace Prize to date. The first was Bertha von Suttner in 1905; the most recent before Machado was Narges Mohammadi in 2023. From Stockholm, the committee expressed hope that the Venezuelan leader will be able to attend the December ceremony in Oslo, though it admitted the situation remains “difficult.”

Why was María Corina Machado awarded the Nobel Peace Prize?

“As leader of the movement for democracy in Venezuela, María Corina Machado is one of the most extraordinary examples of civil courage in Latin America in recent times,” the Nobel Committee said in its official statement. “Ms. Machado has been a key and unifying figure in a political opposition that was once deeply divided – an opposition that found common ground in the demand for free elections and representative government. This is the very essence of democracy: our shared will to defend the principles of popular government even when we disagree. At a time when democracy is under threat, it is more important than ever to protect that common ground.”

The committee continued: “Venezuela has evolved from a relatively democratic and prosperous nation into a brutal, authoritarian state now suffering a humanitarian and economic crisis. Most Venezuelans live in extreme poverty while a small elite grows richer. The state’s violent machinery is turned against its own citizens. Nearly eight million people have fled the country. The opposition has been systematically repressed through electoral fraud, legal persecution, and imprisonment.”

“The authoritarian regime in Venezuela makes political work extremely difficult. As founder of Súmate, an organization dedicated to democratic development, Ms. Machado stood for free and fair elections more than twenty years ago. As she herself declared, ‘It was about choosing between ballots and bullets.’ Since then, in both political office and civil society, she has defended judicial independence, human rights, and popular representation, dedicating years to the cause of Venezuelan freedom.”

“In its long history, the Norwegian Nobel Committee has honored men and women who have faced repression, who have carried the hope of freedom into prisons, streets, and public squares, and who have shown through their actions that peaceful resistance can change the world. Over the past year, Ms. Machado has been forced into hiding. Despite grave threats to her life, she has remained in the country – a decision that has inspired millions,” the statement added.

“María Corina Machado fulfills all three criteria set out in Alfred Nobel’s will for the Peace Prize. She has united her country’s opposition, never wavered in her resistance to the militarization of Venezuelan society, and has steadfastly supported a peaceful transition to democracy,” the committee concluded.

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