The Norwegian Nobel Committee has resolved to award the Nobel Peace Prize in 2025 to Maria Corina Machado.
She is being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for her relentless efforts advocating democratic rights for the people of Venezuela and for her fight for a just and peaceful transition from dictatorship towards democracy.
As the leader of the democracy movement in Venezuela, Maria Corina Machado is one of the most extraordinary examples of civilian courage in Latin America in recent times.
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. That is exactly what is at the core of democracy: our common commitment to upholding the ideals of popular governance, even if we disagree. During a time when democracy is threatened, it is more critical than ever that we stand in defence of this common commitment.
Venezuela has gone from being a fairly democratic and prosperous nation to a ferocious, authoritarian regime now undergoing a humanitarian and economic crisis. The majority of Venezuelans are in abject poverty while the few at the top grow wealthy. The state’s violent apparatus is turned against the nation’s own people. Instead of escaping, nearly 8 million individuals have fled the country. The opposition has been systematically repressed through election cheating, judicial persecution and incarceration.
Venezuela’s authoritarian government makes political work very challenging. As a co-founder of Súmate, an organisation committed to democratic progress, Ms Machado fought for free and fair elections over 20 years ago. As she explained: “It was a choice of ballots over bullets.” Ms Machado has advocated for judicial independence, human rights, and representation of the people in her time in political office and in her work for organisations since then. She has dedicated years to serving the Venezuelan people’s cause of freedom.
Before the 2024 election, Ms Machado was the presidential candidate of the opposition party, but her candidacy was barred by the regime. She then supported another representative from another party, Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia, in the election. Hundreds of thousands of volunteers were mobilised across political lines. They were trained as election observers to guarantee a fair and transparent election. Despite the danger of harassment, arrest and torture, citizens nationwide stood guard over the polling centres. They ensured the final counts were recorded before the regime could burn ballots and falsify the results.
The actions of the collective opposition, prior to and throughout the election, were creative and courageous, nonviolent and democratic. The opposition gained international endorsement when leaders of the opposition publicised the tallies that had been gathered from the nation’s electoral districts, indicating that the opposition won by a landslide. But the regime would not concede the election outcome and held on to power.
Democracy is a prerequisite for enduring peace. Yet our world is one in which democracy is on the run, in which increasingly more authoritarian governments are testing norms and turning to violence. The Venezuelan government’s tight grip on power and its crackdown on the people are anything but a singular phenomenon in global affairs. In 2024, there were more elections than ever before, but fewer and fewer of them were free and fair.
Throughout its long history, the Norwegian Nobel Committee has recognised courageous women and men who have opposed oppression, who have borne the torch of freedom in prison cells, on the streets and in squares, and who have demonstrated through their actions that nonviolent struggle can alter the course of events. Last year, Ms Machado was compelled to be in hiding. Despite serious threats against her life, she has remained in the country, a choice that has inspired millions of people.
When power is taken up by authoritarians, it is most important to remember courageous champions of freedom who stand and fight back. Democracy relies on individuals who will not remain silent, who are willing to step out at tremendous risk, and who remind us that freedom can never be taken for granted, but must always be defended – with words, with courage and with determination.
Maria Corina Machado fulfils all three requirements mentioned in Alfred Nobel’s will for the choice of a Peace Prize winner. She united her country’s opposition. She never faltered in opposing the militarisation of Venezuelan society. She has remained firm in calling for a peaceful shift to democracy.
Maria Corina Machado has demonstrated that the weapons of democracy are also the weapons of peace. She is the hope for a new kind of future, a future in which citizens’ basic rights are respected, and their voices are heard. People will at last be free to live in peace.
