This morning The Nobel Foundation released a statement awarding the Nobel Peace Prize to Venezuelan opposition leader, María Corina Machado. Although calls had been made to have the prize awarded to Donald Trump for brokering a deal between Hamas and Israel, the prize was awarded to Corina (see note below) for her opposition to Nicolás Maduro.
According to the prize announcement, Corina was awarded the prize for “her efforts to advance Democracy in Venezuela.” According to the Foundation, “the right to freely express one’s opinion, to cast one’s vote and to be represented” by the government of their choosing “is the foundation of peace.”
Corina was a member of the Venezuelan National Assembly from 2010 until she was expelled from by the Maduro regime in 2014. She founded Vente Venezuela as an opposition party in and later the Soy Venezuela alliance in 2017. She ran for president of Venezuela in the 2024 elections. After being blocked from running by the Venezuelan authorities, she supported Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia. However, although the opposition collected strong evidence of election fraud, the regime declared victory.
She will be officially receiving her prize in Oslo, Norway on December 10.
Editor’s note: We use the Spanish name variation throughout this article.
Photograph: María Corina Machado, Vente Venezuela.
