Summary
- Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado has been awarded this year’s Nobel Peace Prize
- “I’m in shock…shocked with joy,” says the 58-year-old on hearing the news
- Machado was barred from running in last year’s presidential elections won by President Nicolás Maduro. The polls were widely dismissed internationally as neither free nor fair
- She has largely been in hiding since those elections – here’s a profile by our South America correspondent
- The Nobel committee recognised her “tireless work promoting democratic rights for the people of Venezuela” and “her struggle to achieve a just and peaceful transition from dictatorship to democracy”
- Donald Trump had led a public campaign to win the award, and the White House responded to this year’s choice by saying the Nobel Committee had “proved they place politics over peace”
Venezuela’s Maria Corina Machado announced as Nobel Peace Prize
‘A woman who keeps the flames of democracy going’
Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado has won this year’s Nobel Peace Prize for her “tireless work promoting democratic rights”.
The committee described the 58-year-old activist as a “woman who keeps the flame of democracy going, amidst a growing darkness” and commended her for her efforts to “achieve a just and peaceful transition from dictatorship to democracy”.
“I’m in shock,” Machado, who has been in hiding since August 2024, said in first public remarks since the announcement.
Machado was barred from running in last year’s presidential elections won by President Nicolás Maduro. The polls were widely dismissed internationally as neither free nor fair.
Despite the ban, she managed to attract huge crowds in Caracas to rally for their chosen candidate – Edmundo González, writes BBC’s South American correspondent lone Wells.
Machado has refused to leave the country even though the Maduro government has threatened her with arrest.
The lead-up to this year’s announcement was dominated by Donald Trump’s very public campaign to win the prize, which was supported by some world leaders.
Asked about the pressure from the US president, committee chairman Jørgen Watne Frydnes said: “We base our decision only on the work and the will of Alfred Nobel.”
What comes next for Venezuela’s opposition?
This Nobel Prize will be hugely welcomed by Venezuela’s opposition, as a way to draw further international attention to the situation in Venezuela.
But there are big questions for the opposition about where it goes next. It’s something we, as international journalists, have often asked Machado in the press conferences she has sometimes given from hiding.
Much of the leadership is in exile or in hiding, because of safety fears and threats from the authorities in Venezuela. While some countries have recognised Edmundo González, the opposition candidate, as the president-elect this has not yet translated into further leverage inside Venezuela.
Repression, and crackdowns on dissent in the country, remain common. There are dozens of political prisoners. The country is suffering a deep economic crisis too.
So far, the armed forces, police, intelligence agencies and key militia groups have remained loyal to Nicolás Maduro. Calls from the opposition for the military or security forces to abandon him have so far not produced significant defections.
There is still a lingering question mark about how far Machado’s international allies, like Donald Trump, would be prepared to go to intervene. There have been reports that some of Trump’s officials want to oust Maduro.
In recent weeks, the US has bombed at least four vessels in the Caribbean Sea off the coast of Venezuela killing at least 21 people. The US claims they are drug trafficking vessels but has not provided any details or evidence about those on board and some lawyers believe the strikes breach international law.
Some in the region, including Maduro himself, believe these strikes coupled with the military presence the US is building near Venezuela show Trump’s real objective is to remove Maduro from power.
Machado has unified the opposition in a divided country
Throughout the years, many Venezuelan opposition leaders have come and gone. Some of them have fallen into oblivion.
Not only has María Corina Machado stayed with her unwavering fight for democracy, but she has become increasingly relevant and has managed to gain support from Venezuelans from all social backgrounds and political beliefs.
She has resisted the attacks from the Venezuelan government which has repeatedly accused her of being a radical right-wing politician born with a silver spoon in her mouth.
She has managed to unify the opposition and those who believe in a better Venezuela in a country that has been divided for many, many years. (BBC)
