Who Is Maria Corina Machado? Get to Know the Nobel Prize Winner

Maria Corina Machado has worked her way through Venezuela's political landscape ...  and her efforts are being recognized by the international community in a big way -- because she's just been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

We're taking a look at what she's done to reach this point ... and check out how one particular international politician is not thrilled about her receiving the distinction.

Machado, 58, is from Venezuela ... her father was an industrialist in the country, according to The Wall Street Journal. Machado studied engineering during her university days, and she eventually earned a master's degree in finance.

Her philanthropic activities kicked off in 1992, when she founded Fundación Atenea, which provides aid to street children in Caracas.

Machado entered politics 10 years later when she founded Sumate, a vote-monitoring organization, and she subsequently left Atenea in order to focus on her political ambitions, according to The Independent.

Machado was elected to Venezuela's National Assembly in 2010, reportedly pulling in a record number of supporters.

She cofounded a liberal-leaning political party, Vente Venezuela, in 2012, and she helped set up the Soy Venezuela alliance, which brings together right and left-wing politicians to work on shared issues.

Machado achieved notoriety as a vocal opponent of Venezuela's longtime president Nicolas Maduro, and she ended up expelled from the country's National Assembly in 2014.

Machado announced her candidacy for president in Venezuela's 2024 presidential election, but she was ultimately banned from holding public office. Maduro reportedly won the election with 51% of the vote -- although inconsistencies in the polls were widely publicized -- and Machado went into hiding after the election, according to NPR.

After months underground, Machado made her first public appearance at an opposition protest in Caracas in January 2025, according to The Independent. Her political group, Comando Con Venezuela, said she'd been "violently intercepted" as she was leaving the rally, after which she was detained.

Machado's team later claimed she'd been forced to record several videos during her detainment, which was reportedly denounced by various governments.

Venezuelan government officials alleged she'd faked the arrest and detainment to drum up support for the opposition.

Machado was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize on October 10, 2025, "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," according to the Nobel Prize Foundation website.

A video showing the moment she was notified she'd won the prize was released on Friday, and she said she didn't deserve the distinction before expressing the prize was "the achievement of a whole society."