Maria Corina Machado instructed CBS Information Friday that being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize serves as a message to her fellow Venezuelans that “we’re not alone.”
“They’ve been a part of this enormous motion,” Machado instructed CBS Information by Zoom. “We’re not alone. The world acknowledges this enormous, epic battle.”
Machado is the chief of the pro-democracy motion in Venezuela, which is beneath a dictatorship so brutal she has been pressured to dwell in hiding.
“That is actually the largest recognition to our individuals,” Machado instructed CBS Information, which was the one U.S. media outlet to talk to her following Friday’s announcement.
Generally known as Venezuela’s “Iron Girl,” the 58-year-old Machado has led a large political motion difficult the nation’s authoritarian leaders for over twenty years.
First, she challenged former President Hugo Chavez, and now, his successor, President Nicolas Maduro, whose disputed July 2024 reelection was not acknowledged by the U.S., which instead declared opposition chief Edmundo González, now exiled, because the winner.
For the previous a number of months, the Trump administration has placed pressure on Maduro’s regime, deploying warships to the southern Caribbean and conducting navy strikes on drug boats it says originated from Venezuela.
Final week, the White Home notified Congress that the U.S. was in a “non-international armed battle” with drug cartels it has designated as terrorist organizations.
Machado was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for protecting “the flame of democracy burning amidst a rising darkness,” the Norwegian Nobel Committee mentioned in a press release.
A video captured the emotional second Machado accepted the award in a cellphone name from Kristian Berg Harpviken, the director of the Norwegian Nobel Institute.
“Oh my God. I’ve no phrases. Thanks a lot,” Machado mentioned on the decision. “I hope you perceive it is a motion, that is an achievement for an entire society. I’m only one individual; I actually don’t deserve this. Oh my God.”
Machado’s defiance has come at a worth. She has spent the final yr in hiding after Maduro repeatedly threatened to arrest her.
CBS Information was with Machado in Venezuela final yr through the presidential elections, when Maduro claimed victory regardless of the worldwide outcry of fraud.
Maduro’s crackdown on dissent escalated, however that did not cease her.
“I believe it does give me numerous safety,” mentioned Machado of how receiving the Nobel might have modified her future and her safety state of affairs. “However an important factor, is that it highlights, worldwide, the significance of the wrestle of Venezuela.”
Machado instructed CBS Information she spoke to President Trump Friday and thanked him “from the underside of the guts of Venezuelans.”
She mentioned she instructed Mr. Trump that he can “make certain that we’re a society dedicated to freedom, that we are going to prevail.”
