María Corina Machado

Personal Background:

• Full Name:  María Corina Machado Parisca

• Born:  October 7, 1967, in Caracas, Venezuela.

• Profession:  Industrial engineer with a master's degree in finance.

Political Career & Activism:

• She is a prominent  Venezuelan opposition leader  and a  liberal conservative politician .

• Began her activism as a founder of  Súmate  (2001), a civil organization focused on vote monitoring.

• She led a petition drive for the  2004 recall referendum  against President Hugo Chávez, for which she faced (and was later cleared of) treason charges.

• Served as a  member of the National Assembly  for Miranda from 2011 to 2014.

• Was a  leading organizer  of the  2014 Venezuelan protests  against the government of Nicolás Maduro.

2024 Presidential Election:

• Won the  2023 opposition primary  to become the unity candidate for the 2024 presidential election.

• The Maduro government  barred her from running .

• She named  Edmundo González Urrutia  as her replacement candidate. The opposition claims he won the subsequent election in a landslide.

• Fearing for her safety, Machado announced she had  gone into hiding  after the July 2024 election.

International Recognition:

• 2024:  Awarded both the  Václav Havel Human Rights Prize  and the  Sakharov Prize .

• 2025:  Awarded the  Nobel Peace Prize  for her tireless work promoting democratic rights and a peaceful transition from dictatorship in Venezuela.