'We will prevail,' says Nobel Peace Prize winner Maria Machado

Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, who on Friday won the Nobel Peace Prize, said she was confident the opposition would succeed in securing a peaceful transition to democracy in her country.

"We're not there yet. We're working very hard to achieve it, but I'm sure that we will prevail," she told Kristian Berg Harpviken, the director of the Nobel Institute and secretary of the Nobel Committee, when he called to inform her that she had won the 2025 prize.

In a video of the call posted on X by the Nobel Foundation, Harpviken could be seen trying to hold back tears, his voice cracking as he broke the news to her, waking her in the middle of the night.

Maria Corina Machado, centre left, and Edmundo Gonzalez bend down to avoid cables as they ride on the top of a truck during a protest rally. File / AP

"This is certainly the biggest recognition to our people that certainly deserve it," she said, adding: "I am just, you know, one person. I certainly do not deserve this."

"This immense recognition of the struggle of all Venezuelans is an impetus to conclude our task: to achieve freedom," she wrote on X. "Today, more than ever we count on President Trump, the people of the United States, the peoples of Latin America, and the democratic nations of the world as our main allies to achieve freedom and democracy," she added

Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro was re-elected in 2024 in an election numerous countries said was rigged, and which Machado was barred from despite enormous popularity in the polls.

The Nobel Committee honoured 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."

Agence France-Presse