Venezuelan Politician Maria Corina Wins 2025 Nobel Peace Prize
Venezuelan politician Maria Corina Machado has been awarded the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize.
This is in recognition of 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.”
In a statement, she was described as a woman who keeps the flame of democracy burning amid a growing darkness.
The Norwegian Nobel Committee’s decision was announced on October 10, 2025, saying she meets all three criteria stated in Alfred Nobel’s will for the selection of a Peace Prize laureate.
“She has brought her country’s opposition together. She has never wavered in resisting the militarisation of Venezuelan society. She has been steadfast in her support for a peaceful transition to democracy.
“Maria Corina Machado has shown that the tools of democracy are also the tools of peace. She embodies the hope of a different future, one where the fundamental rights of citizens are protected, and their voices are heard. In this future, people will finally be free to live in peace.”
“Ms Machado has been a key, 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 precisely what lies at the heart of democracy: our shared willingness to defend the principles of popular rule, even though we disagree. At a time when democracy is under threat, it is more important than ever to defend this common ground.”
As a founder of Súmate, an organisation devoted to democratic development, Ms Machado stood up for free and fair elections more than 20 years ago.
In political office and in her service to organisations since then, Ms Machado has spoken out for judicial independence, human rights and popular representation.
She has spent years working for the freedom of the Venezuelan people.
Ahead of the election of 2024, Ms Machado was the opposition’s presidential candidate, but the regime blocked her candidacy. She then backed the representative of a different party, Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia, in the election.
In the past year, Ms Machado has been forced to live in hiding. Despite serious threats against her life, she has remained in the country, a choice that has inspired millions of people.
Story by Hajara Fuseini
Click to read more: https://opemsuo.com/author/hajara-fuseini/
