Meet Maria Corina Machado, the Venezuelan leader who won Nobel Peace Prize 2025

Machado is regarded as one of the 100 most powerful and inspirational leaders in the world and is well-known for her distinct voice in Venezuela’s historically male-dominated political scene. Maria Corina Machado, a prominent figure in the Vente Venezuela party, was born on October 7, 1967. The Venezuelan activist and politician, who goes by Maria Corina, is an industrial engineer and the country’s current opposition leader. Maria was one of the founders of Sumate, a civil society NGO, prior to entering politics. In addition to being a founding member of Vente Venezuela, a liberal political organization established in 2013, Maria Corina serves as its national coordinator.

As the vice president of Sumate, Maria, in 2004, took on the drive for a recall referendum on the then-Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. She was at the time under investigation for treason and conspiracy due to funding accepted by Sumate.

In 2001, Maria Corina made notable remarks about Venezuela’s political course. Her words, later quoted in a 2004article, read, “Something clicked. I had this unsettling feeling that I could not stay at home and watch the country get polarised and collapse…We had to keep the electoral process but change the course, to give Venezuelans the chance to count ourselves, to dissipate tensions before they built up. It was a choice of ballots over bullets.”

In 2004, while serving as Sumate’s vice president, Maria spearheaded the effort to recall then-Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez through a referendum. At the time, she was being investigated for conspiracy and treason since Sumate had accepted her funding.

Maria Corina made significant comments regarding Venezuela’s political trajectory in 2001. “Something clicked,” she said, later cited in a 2004 Washington Post piece. I got the uneasy sensation that I couldn’t remain at home and watch as the nation fell apart and became divided. In order to provide Venezuelans the opportunity to vote and to defuse tensions before they escalated, we had to maintain the electoral process but alter its direction. The decision was between ballots and bullets.

According to Maria, Maduro lost the Venezuelan presidential election to Edmundo González, a member of her party, 67 percent to 30 percent.

She said Maduro responded to the protests against him with what she described as “brutal repression”. Maria Corina said that state security forces killed several Venezuelans and imprisoned thousands of others. “Most of our team is in hiding, and even after seven diplomatic missions were expelled from Venezuela, my aides in the Argentine Embassy are being protected by the government of Brazil. I could be captured as I write these words,” Maria Corina had said.