Maria Corina Machado wins 2025 Nobel Peace Prize

In an official statement, the Nobel Committee stated that "democracy is a prerequisite for lasting peace. However, we live in a world where democracy is in decline, where increasingly authoritarian regimes are challenging norms and resorting to violence." Maria Corina Machado "has dedicated years to fighting for the freedom of the Venezuelan people," combating "the Venezuelan regime's rigid grip on power and its repression of the population," which "are not an isolated case in the world."

In 2024, the prize committee notes, "more elections have been held than ever before, but fewer and fewer are free and fair." Machado has presented herself as the main challenger to Nicolas Maduro in the July 2024 presidential election, but was excluded from the race, leading the campaign for the candidate Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia. Since Venezuela's main authorities announced Maduro's victory, without providing evidence, Machado has been engaged in a campaign to "restore democracy" and a fight to defend democracy and human rights, denouncing the abuses committed by the Maduro government and the numerous arbitrary imprisonments of political opponents. In 2024, she won the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought.

Machado "an example of civil courage"

As a leader of the democratic movement in Venezuela, the award citation states, Machado is one of "the most extraordinary examples of civil courage in Latin America in recent times" and a "courageous champion of peace." The opposition leader is described as "a woman who keeps the flame of democracy burning amid growing darkness" and has demonstrated "that the tools of democracy are also the tools of peace." For the members of the award committee, Machado "embodies the hope for a different future, in which citizens' fundamental rights are protected and their voices are heard."

Machado, another passage states, "was a key figure in the once deeply divided political opposition, which found common ground in the demand for free elections and representative government," with a "Venezuelan regime" that made "political work extremely difficult." As founder of the organization "Sumate," Machado, the Nobel Committee's statement continues, "has been working for free elections for over 20 years," consistently speaking out in favor of "judicial independence, human rights, and popular representation." In recent years, Machado "has been forced to live in hiding," the Nobel Committee recalls. Despite "serious threats to her life," she remained in the country, making "a choice that has inspired millions."

Opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia congratulated Machado over the phone. "The Nobel Peace Prize awarded to Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado is a well-deserved recognition for the long struggle of a woman and an entire people for freedom and democracy," he said. Urrutia also noted that this is the first Nobel Peace Prize awarded to Venezuela.

“Maria Corina Machado's tireless fight for freedom and democracy in Venezuela has touched the hearts and inspired millions of people around the world,” wrote the President of the European Parliament on X, Roberta Metsola "I am very proud of the courageous Machado for receiving the Nobel Peace Prize," said the President. "That is why the European Parliament was proud to award you and Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia the Sakharov Prize in 2024. A testament to your courage and conviction," Metsola concluded.

As reported previously, Hungarian author László Krasznahorkai won the 2025 Nobel Prize in Literature.