Who is María Corina Machado — Nobel Peace Prize 2025 laureate?
Venezuelan opposition leader and democracy activist María Corina Machado was awarded this year’s Nobel Peace Prize for her steadfast struggle to bring about a just and peaceful transition from dictatorship to democracy.
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On October 10, María Corina Machado was awarded the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize for her relentless dedication to promoting democratic rights in Venezuela and pushing for a peaceful transition from dictatorship to democracy.
On X, Machado wrote: “We Venezuelans have received with immense emotion and renewed hope this recognition from the Norwegian Nobel Committee. The greatest tribute to the legacy of Alfred Nobel will be to ensure the transition to Democracy, to conquer our Freedom and, in this way, to achieve Peace. Venezuela will be free!”
Nicknamed the “Iron Lady” of Venezuela, Machado is an industrial engineer by training. She is the National Coordinator of Vente Venezuela, a liberal political party she helped found in 2013. She was elected to the National Assembly (2010–2015) with the highest vote total of any candidate in that cycle and remains one of her country’s most prominent opposition leaders.
Since 2017, she has also been a founding member—alongside Antonio Ledezma and Diego Arria—of the SoyVenezuela platform, a broad alliance working to restore democracy and galvanize national and international support. As a legislator, Machado stood out for vocally condemning abuses by Venezuela’s regime, denouncing institutional overreach, human rights violations, repression, and the country’s escalating humanitarian crisis.
In March 2014, she addressed the Permanent Council of the Organization of American States, denouncing human rights violations under Maduro’s predecessor—a speech enabled by Panama granting her the floor. Shortly after, she was expelled from the National Assembly by the then‑President of the Assembly, Diosdado Cabello, in what critics called a violation of due process and international norms.
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