Highlights: Venezuela's Maria Corina Machado wins Nobel peace prize for 'tireless work' promoting democratic rights
Opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, 58, "keeps the flame of democracy burning amid a growing darkness", said the Norwegian Nobel Committee.
Venezuelan activist Maria Corina Machado in Caracas, Venezuela on Jan 9, 2025. (File photo: Reuters/Maxwell Briceno)
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Venezuela's opposition leader Maria Corina Machado won the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday (Oct 10) for promoting democratic rights in her country and her struggle to achieve a transition to democracy.
"When authoritarians seize power, it is crucial to recognise courageous defenders of freedom who rise and resist," the Norwegian Nobel Committee said in its citation.
It praised her for her "tireless work", describing her as a woman who "keeps the flame of democracy burning amid a growing darkness".
Machado, a 58-year-old industrial engineer, lives in hiding. She was blocked in 2024 by Venezuela's courts from running for president and thus challenging President Nicolas Maduro, who has been in power since 2013.
There were 338 peace prize nominees in a year that had been dominated by US President Donald Trump's repeated public statements that he deserved to win.
Catch up on the highlights:
