Venezuela’s Opp leader María Machado wins Nobel Peace Prize

11 OCTOBER 2025

Venezuelan Opposition leader María Corina Machado won the Nobel Peace Prize for her struggle to achieve a democratic transition in the South American nation, winning recognition as a woman “who keeps the flame of democracy burning amid a growing darkness”.
The former Opposition presidential candidate is a “key, unifying figure” in the once deeply divided Opposition to President Nicolas Maduro’s government.
Reacting to the honour, Ms. Machado said she was confident the Opposition would succeed in securing a peaceful transition to democracy in her country.
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.
Ms. Machado, 58, was set to run against Mr. Maduro in 2024 presidential election, but the government disqualified her.
The crackdown on dissent only increased after the country’s National Electoral Council, which is stacked with Maduro loyalists, declared him the winner despite credible evidence to the contrary.
The election results announced by the Electoral Council sparked protests to which the government responded with force that ended with more than 20 people dead.

Ms. Machado becomes the 20th woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize.