The Norwegian Nobel Committee announced María Corina Machado as the winner of the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize Oct. 10, making history as the first Venezuelan to receive the honor. At UF, Venezuelan students and faculty said they felt both pride and validation when the news broke.
“She’s a very significant role model for a lot of families,” said Irene Martínez, an 18-year-old UF psychology freshman. “I hope that I can speak for the majority of Venezuelans when I say that I feel validated now that María Corina has been recognized.”
For more than two decades, Machado has fought to achieve what once seemed impossible — freeing Venezuela from an authoritarian regime.
The Chavismo movement, founded by Hugo Chávez and now led by Nicolás Maduro, has ruled the country since 1999. What began as a promise to improve living conditions has instead led to widespread hyperinflation and extreme poverty across the South American nation.
Machado’s opposition efforts date back to the early years of Chavismo, when she co-founded Súmate, an independent democratic civil society group promoting free and fair elections, in 2002.
In 2023, she took her fight a step further and announced her candidacy for the 2024 presidential elections — a move Maduro’s government quickly blocked. Undeterred, Machado threw her support behind opposition candidate Edmundo González, widely regarded as the symbolic representative of her political movement.
Despite massive public backing for Machado and González, Maduro declared victory, claiming the majority of votes. That triggered protests around the world, uniting Venezuelans in a renewed cry for democracy. The subsequent government crackdown on political dissent ultimately forced the 58-year-old activist into hiding.
For some in Gainesville, the award was unexpected. Naomy Torres-Contreras, an 18-year-old UF industrial engineering freshman, said she felt a “strong mix of surprise and pride” when she heard the news.
“Because of how polarizing she is at home, the win came as a genuine surprise,” she said.
Nevertheless, Torres-Contreras believes the award will improve perceptions of Venezuelans, showing their resilience and determination to fight for democracy, she said.
For others, like Jose Peaguda, the moment felt more bittersweet. The 23-year-old UF biomedical engineering senior, who serves as president of UF’s Venezuelan Student Association, said the world is witnessing "something historic” with Machado’s recognition. But the award doesn’t change the tensions in his home country.
“At the end of the day, all these efforts have not been rewarded, and we still live under a dictatorship,” he said.
But the transition toward democracy is underway, he said — starting with raising awareness. Machado has exposed Venezuela’s crisis on a global scale, and the country is finally being seen by the world, he said. The award will fuel Venezuelans to someday "rebuild the country that was once stolen from us,” he added.
Not all reactions, though, were positive. Carlos Casanova, a lecturer at UF’s Hamilton Center, said the political dynamics in Venezuela remain deeply complex and rooted in manipulation. This causes him to distrust Machado’s background, he said.
He fears Machado is being propped up by the government in power itself and is not a truthful opposition, he added.
“Every tyranny needs the appearance of war,” he said of Maduro’s government. “That appearance allows tyranny to have extraordinary powers that seem legitimate and to eliminate its opponents.”
Casanova has experienced Venezuelan authoritarian forces firsthand. In 2003, he fled his country because of political instability after the previous year’s coup against Hugo Chávez. Once abroad, he realized it would be impossible for him to return.
In his eyes, it is possible Machado is working alongside those she claims to be against, Casanova said. Venezuela’s current opposition might only exist to create the illusion of civil protest while not truly fighting for a change in government, he said.
The Norwegian Peace Council announced it will cancel this year’s traditional Nobel Peace Prize torchlight procession of Machado’s selection. The council, which represents 18 member organizations, said Machado’s methods conflict with its principles of dialogue and nonviolence.
The group has canceled the procession only once before — in 2012, when the European Union received the award for its contributions to peace and reconciliation across the continent over six decades.
The Nobel Institute said it expects the annual march will still take place under different organizers. The Norwegian Venezuelan Justice Alliance confirmed it will lead this year’s event in Oslo, calling it “an honor to preserve this beautiful tradition.”
Contact Sofia Alamo at salamo@alligator.org. Follow her on X @alamosofiaa.
Contact Vera Lucia Pappaterra at vpappaterra@alligator.org. Follow her on X @veralupap.
Contact Victoria Riccobono at vriccobono@alligator.org. Follow her on X @vickyriccobono.
Vera Lucia Pappaterra is The Alligator's Fall 2025 Caiman editor and a junior journalism and history student. She previously served as the enterprise race and equity reporter and the university general assignment reporter. In her free time, she enjoys being a menace on wheels (bike wheels).
