Maria Corina Machado: Venezuela's Opposition Leader and Nobel Laureate

Maria Corina Machado's Impact on Venezuelan Politics

Jan 15 (Reuters) - Venezuelan opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner Maria Corina Machado is set to meet face to face for the first time with U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday, after the U.S. ousted her long-time foe, former President Nicolas Maduro. 

Machado's Nobel Peace Prize Recognition

Machado was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in October for her fight against what the Norwegian Nobel Committee called a dictatorship. The day she received the award was the last time she spoke to Trump, she told Fox News' "Hannity" program earlier this month. 

Challenges Faced by the Opposition

Machado - widely seen as Maduro's most credible opponent - left Venezuela where she had been in hiding to travel to Norway to accept the prize. She told Hannity she had not returned to her country but was planning to go back as soon as possible. 

Public Support and Campaign Strategies

Over the past two years, Machado, a 58-year-old industrial engineer, helped reenergize a politically disengaged population in Venezuela after more than a decade of economic and social collapse. 

She went into hiding after the 2024 election, when electoral authorities allied with Maduro declared his reelection in a vote widely seen as rigged. The government never posted official results, but results collected by the opposition, verified by an independent election monitor, found the Machado-backed candidate had won in a landslide. 

Maduro is now in jail in New York City facing charges of drug-trafficking - which he denies - after the U.S. captured him in an audacious raid on January 3. His former vice president, Delcy Rodriguez, is running Venezuela under U.S. oversight. 

'TIRELESS WORK PROMOTING DEMOCRATIC RIGHTS'

Married to a constitutional lawyer, Machado, a mother of three, impressed both experts and ordinary citizens with her work ethic and ability to connect with voters. 

Her message was simple: Maduro was leading a "mafia" that had looted the country and repressed its people. The fight for democracy will continue until the government changes. 

The Maduro government called Machado a fascist and terrorist, accusing her of fomenting a right-wing conspiracy to overthrow his rule.

The Nobel Committee honored Machado "for her tireless work promoting democratic rights for the people of Venezuela and for her struggle to achieve a just and peaceful transition from dictatorship to democracy," noting she had done so "in the face of ever-expanding authoritarianism."

In mid-2023, Machado organized a primary election without official support, breathing life back into the opposition in a country where protests had been crushed and dissidents jailed. She was the latest in a line of opposition leaders who had failed to unseat Maduro, who became president in 2013 following the death of his mentor, Hugo Chavez.

MACHADO HAS UNCOMPROMISING STANCE

The eldest daughter of a prominent steelmaking family, Machado was described as stubborn by her mother. She campaigned across Venezuela, cooking corn pancakes at roadside stands and traveling by boat through rivers and jungles. 

Educated at a Catholic girls' school in Caracas and a boarding school in Massachusetts, Machado studied engineering and finance before joining her family's business. In 2002, she founded Sumate, a voter-rights group that became a key opposition force against Chavez, the founder of Venezuela's socialist movement.

Fluent in English and known for her strong voice, her fierce personality led to confrontations in the National Assembly, where she served starting in 2010. In 2012, she famously told Chavez, "Expropriating is stealing." Her uncompromising stance has drawn criticism, even from fellow opposition members. 

More recently, her vocal support for Trump and his military strikes on boats allegedly transporting narcotics has caused friction within some parts of the opposition. Reuters has reported efforts by members of Machado’s team to help the Trump administration build the case for an aggressive stance against the Venezuelan government, despite worries about blowback from policies on Venezuelan immigrants living in the United States.

Machado personally thanked Trump in her Nobel acceptance statement and has suggested she may give him her award, although the Nobel Institute said it cannot be transferred. 

Trump has previously called her a "freedom fighter" but dismissed the idea of working with her after Maduro's ousting, saying she did not have enough support within Venezuela. A classified CIA assessment presented to Trump concluded that Maduro loyalists, including Rodriguez, were best positioned to maintain stability.

In 2024, then-Senator Marco Rubio — now Secretary of State and a longtime ally of the Venezuelan opposition — signed a letter nominating her for the Nobel Peace Prize.

MASSIVE SUPPORT PERSUADED HER TO CAMPAIGN 

Before organizing the 2023 primary, Machado had abstained from participating in Venezuela's elections, citing distrust in the electoral authorities. She reversed course after massive public support propelled her into the campaign.

Machado's speeches — often delivered from trucks or car rooftops to bypass government obstruction — championed economic and democratic freedom and the reunification of families separated by migration.

In early 2024, Venezuela's highest court barred Machado from running for president, citing alleged financial irregularities from her time as a legislator. She then backed Edmundo Gonzalez, a little-known diplomat and academic, who ran and was widely considered the winner. 

But backed by the military and the country's top court, Maduro declared himself the victor, ignoring international pressure to concede. Protests and a subsequent crackdown led to two dozen deaths and thousands of arrests, according to rights groups. 

Gonzalez fled to Spain, saying he feared imprisonment or torture. Nearly all of Machado's senior advisers and allies were also detained or forced into exile. 

Some opposition figures, though not Machado's closest collaborators, have been released from Venezuelan jails in recent days, as part of what the government and Trump say is a peace gesture. 

(Reporting by Sarah Kinosian in Mexico City and Reuters; Editing by Rosalba O'Brien and Daniel Wallis)