Venezuela's 'Iron Lady' Maria Corina Machado Wins 2025 Nobel Peace Prize!

India Today

This special report focuses on Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado being awarded the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize. The Norwegian Nobel Committee recognized her '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.' A leading figure against the governments of Hugo Chávez and Nicolás Maduro, Machado has been a key unifying force for a once-divided opposition. Despite being barred from running in the 2024 presidential election, she backed candidate Edmundo González Urrutia and mobilized citizens to monitor polls. The prize highlights her long-standing commitment to a peaceful, democratic transition in the face of political persecution, including being expelled from parliament in 2014.

Transcript

00:00Hello. Hello. Yes, hello. Am I talking to Maria Corina Machado? Yes, this is Maria Corina.

00:14Yes, Maria Corina. My name is Kristian Berg-Arpbyken. I am the secretary of the Norwegian Nobel

00:26Committee in Oslo, and I'm calling to inform you that in a few minutes it shall be announced

00:35here at the Nobel Institute that you will be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for 2025.

00:47Oh my god. So, the warmest congratulations to you, Maria.

00:55Oh my god. Oh my god. Well, I have no words. Well, thank you so much, but I hope you understand

01:15this is a movement. This is an achievement of a whole society. I am just, you know, one

01:25person. I certainly do not deserve this. Oh my god. I think both the movement and you

01:35deserve it. So, I'm sure this comes as a surprise, and I'm sorry to have to wake you

01:43up in the middle of the night to convey this. We don't have much time. We actually are making

01:50the announcement just in a few minutes, but I want to quote just shortly from the text

01:58that will be announced shortly, where it is said that you are receiving the prize for, and

02:05here I quote directly from the announcement, for her tireless work promoting democratic rights

02:10for the people of Venezuela, and for her struggle to achieve a just and peaceful transition from

02:17dictatorship to democracy.

02:22I'm honored, humbled, and very grateful on behalf of the Venezuelan people. We are not

02:31there yet. We're working very hard to achieve it, but I'm sure that we will prevail, and this

02:38is certainly the biggest recognition to our people that certainly deserve it. So, thank you very much.

02:47Thank you very much.

02:49I'm very happy to hear your reaction. I do have to ask you, Maria, not to reveal this in the next five

02:58minutes until the official announcement is made here in Oslo, which is at 11 o'clock a.m. local time,

03:05five o'clock your time. After that, of course, you are more than welcome to tell anyone you would like,

03:15and by experience we know that the news will be out.

03:18I think it'll take me a lot longer to believe what I've just heard.

03:24Wow. Well, thank you very much. It's an honor, and I know it's a recognition to our people,

03:38to the Venezuelan people. Thank you so much.

03:39It certainly is, but it's also a recognition of yourself and what you have done.

03:44I look very much forward to speaking with you soon again.

03:47Me too. Thank you so much. Thank you very much. I am wordless, speechless, but thank you. Thank you.

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