Who is Venezuela opposition leader, Maria Corina Machado?

In 2002, she cofounded Súmate, a nongovernmental organisation devoted to promoting electoral transparency and defending citizens' political rights. The group organised a national referendum to recall Chávez, a campaign that ultimately did not succeed, and continued afterwards as a leading advocate for transparency and citizen oversight of elections.   

Reflecting on that period, Machado told The Washington Post in 2004, "Something clicked. I had this unsettling feeling that I could not stay at home and watch the country polarise and collapse…We had to keep the electoral process but change course to give Venezuelans the chance to count ourselves, to dissipate tensions before they built up. It was a choice of ballots over bullets."  

Machado formally entered Venezuelan politics in 2010, winning a seat in Venezuela's National Assembly with one of the highest vote totals of that year's election. In parliament, she gained recognition as a firm advocate for democratic governance and individual freedoms, memorably confronting Chávez during a nationally televised session and declaring, "Expropiar es robar" ("To expropriate is to steal"). Her growing popularity made her one of the most visible figures in the opposition during the final years of Chávez's rule.  

After Chávez's death in 2013,  Maduro assumed the presidency, continuing his predecessor's socialist agenda and consolidating executive control. Under Maduro, the political climate became increasingly restrictive, with opposition figures facing harassment, disqualification, or even exile. Machado continued to build her movement, founding Vente Venezuela, a centrist liberal organisation that promotes free markets, civic participation, and institutional reform.   

During the following decade, Machado became one of the most outspoken critics of the Maduro government.

In 2014, she helped organise La Salida ("The Exit"), a nationwide protest movement calling for the president's resignation amid widespread economic collapse and political repression. That same year, she was expelled from the National Assembly after addressing the Organisation of American States about Venezuela's political crisis. She was later barred from leaving the country and disqualified from holding public office, yet continued to advocate for democratic reform and to build her political organisation despite mounting pressure.  

Awarding Machado the peace prize has proved controversial in some circles, with critics highlighting her close association with the Trump administration and its attempts to remove the current democratically elected Venezuelan government by force.

Her long-standing commitment to capitalist measures to rebuild Venezuela's stalled economy has also faced fierce opposition, with opponents claiming that her measures, such as privatising the country's oil, water and other key infrastructure assets, are nothing more than a ruse to further enrich the country's wealthy elite. Her supporters insist that these and other capitalist measures are essential for rebuilding Venezuela's economy after years of neglect. 

Trump: 'I have been helping her'

But it is Machado's close association with the Trump administration, and its increasingly hostile approach to the Maduro government, that culminated in his capture on 3 January, which has caused much of the controversy over her Nobel award, with critics claiming that she is backing a new era of US-backed military intervention in Latin America. Maduro's capture lends credence to that claim.

Machado previously said in an interview, "How grateful the Venezuelan people are for what Trump is doing, not only in the Americas, but around the world for peace, for freedom, for democracy.  For his part, Trump said that "I've been helping her along the way" and described Machado as "very nice".  

However, in a press conference on 3 January, Trump seemed to downplay her possible role in any future Venezuelan administration when he said: "I think it would be very tough for her to be the leader. She doesn't have the support within or the respect within the country. She's a very nice woman, but she doesn't have the respect," Trump said.

Machado has also said that if she comes to power, she will move Venezuela's embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. "I promise one day, we'll have a close relationship between Venezuela and Israel. That will be part of our support to the State of Israel," she added.