Who is Maria Corina Machado, Nobel Peace Prize winner? | World News

Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado has won the Nobel Peace Prize, recognized by the awarding committee for keeping “the flame of democracy burning amidst growing darkness”.

The committee said he rejected death threats to fight for democracy in opposition to President Nicolas Maduro – widely seen as a dictator.

Officially, he is win a prize “for his tireless work in advancing democratic rights for the Venezuelan people and for his struggle to achieve a just and peaceful transition from dictatorship to democracy”.

But who is Ms Machado, and what did she do to earn the coveted award?

Who is Maria Corina Machado?

Ms Machado, 58, announced she was running for president in 2023, ahead of elections in July 2024.

He has united Vente Venezuela the opposition party, won the primaries by a landslide, and demonstrations leading up to the general election began to attract large crowds.

He has become popular among the public in the face of growing authoritarianism under Maduro, who has led the country since 2013.

The country’s judiciary, which is heavily influenced by Maduro, blocked Machado from running.

He was then forced into hiding because the presidential administration routinely targeted his opponents, routinely carried out arrests and violated human rights.

The relatively unknown Edmundo Gonzalez replaced him as the opposition candidate, however Maduro won a third six-year term in July last year with 51% of the vote.

This came after opposition volunteers managed to collect copies of vote tallies from 80% of 30,000 polling stations across the country, which showed that Gonzalez won by a margin of more than 2 to 1.

But electoral authorities are controlled by those loyal to Maduro, as is Venezuela’s Supreme Court, which ruled that the vote count was falsified.

Machado came out of hiding to lead the protests

Despite telling reporters she feared for her life, Ms Machado come out of hiding to join thousands of people in protests against the president days after his victory.

He addressed a crowd in the capital Caracas, and told his supporters: “Just as it took us a long time to achieve victory in the elections, now there is a stage that we are going through day by day, but we have never been as strong as today, never will be.”

His appearance came even as the president told his supporters at a rally that there would be “no pardon” for those behind the riots, and that “maximum punishment” would be meted out.

He came out of hiding again in January this year to lead more protests ahead of Maduro’s inauguration.

US-based Human Rights Watch said at least 20 people were killed in post-election protests.

Thousands more were arrested in connection with the demonstrations, according to the government.

Did Machado react to the prize win?

Although Machado has not commented publicly, Jorgen Watne Frydnes, chairman of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, said the committee had been able to contact him before the announcement and that “it came as a surprise” to him.

His ally, Gonzalez, who lives in exile in Spain, posted a short video of himself speaking by telephone with Machado.

‘I was shocked,’ he said, adding, ‘I couldn’t believe it.’

She posted the video along with a message saying the prize was “a much-deserved recognition of the long struggle of one woman and an entire people for freedom and democracy”.

“When authoritarians seize power, it is important to reward the defenders of freedom who dare to stand up and fight back,” said Watne Frydnes as she named the women as winners of the award.

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He said that Machado was a “unifying figure” in the divided opposition to the president, adding: “In the past year, Machado has been forced to live in hiding.

“Despite serious threats to his life, he remained in this country, a choice that has inspired millions. When authoritarians seized power, it was important to recognize the defenders of freedom who dared to rise up and fight back.”

What is Machado’s background?

Ms Machado, born in Caracas in Venezuela on October 7 1967, trained as an industrial engineer and had a brief career in business before becoming a politician.

She was the daughter of a prominent businessman in Venezuela’s steel industry, so some of her opponents criticized her for being from the upper class.

In 1992, he became determined to help Venezuelan society by establishing the Atenea Foundation, which aimed to benefit street children in Caracas.

He co-founded Sumate 10 years later, which promotes free and fair elections and has conducted election training and monitoring.

He was elected to the National Assembly in 2010, winning a record number of votes, before the Maduro regime removed him from office in 2014.

In 2017, he helped found the Soy Venezuela alliance, which united pro-democracy forces in the country across political dividing lines.