Maria Corina Machado, a Venezuelan opposition leader, has been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for 2025 for her “tireless work promoting democratic rights.”
The Norwegian Nobel Committee noted that the 58-year-old is 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."
Maria has been in hiding since August 2024 and expressed her shock at winning the award.
She was barred from running in last year’s Venezuela presidential election, which was won by President Nicolás Maduro but she has refused to leave the country despite threats of arrest by Maduro’s government.
