María Corina Machado was awarded this Friday, October 10, 2025, with the Nobel Peace Prize for her “tireless” defense of democracy against the “brutal” government of Nicolás Maduro, according to the committee that awards the distinction.
On January 11, he held a virtual meeting with Guatemalan President Bernardo Arévalo in the midst of the political crisis in Venezuela.
The Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado was awarded this Friday, October 10, 2025, with the Nobel Peace Prize for her “tireless” defense of democracy against the “brutal” government of Nicolás Maduro, according to the committee that grants the distinction.
Machado has been living underground in Venezuela for more than a year, to avoid arrest, after the re-election of Nicolás Maduro for a third term, which she and the opposition describe as fraudulent.
Machado went into hiding shortly after publishing a website with the minutes issued by the voting machines in the last elections, which would prove the triumph of his candidate Edmundo González.
Machado meeting with Arévalo
At the beginning of 2025, the president of Guatemala, Bernardo Arévalo, had a virtual meeting with Machado and González, within the framework of the Venezuelan crisis and the inauguration of Maduro for his third term.
On January 10, Arévalo published a message on his social networks announcing the meeting with Machado and González.
The Guatemalan president was accompanied by Foreign Minister Carlos Ramiro Martínez and described the Maduro regime as illegitimate.
“The illegitimate regime of Nicolás Maduro has violated the electoral process and repressed its own people. I met with @MariaCorinaYA and @EdmundoGU to give them our support along with all the Venezuelan people. Let them know that in Guatemala they have an ally to always defend democracy,” Arévalo wrote.
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The message was accompanied by photographs in which Arévalo, Machado and González were seen in a video call.
Another photo also showed the Guatemalan president and chancellor in front of a computer and, finally, a video from hours before, during the delivery of the Order of the Quetzal to Luis Almagro, secretary of the Organization of American States (OAS), where Bernardo Arévalo said that Maduro violated Venezuela’s electoral process and that he has repressed the Venezuelan people.
González arrived in Guatemala on January 14 to meet with a group of Venezuelans living in this country and with President Arévalo.
González Urrutia arrived in Guatemala on a private plane and left the air terminal through an alternate exit, without an official welcome or statements to the press, EFE reported at the time.
President Bernardo Arévalo confirmed that he met with Edmundo González, according to a message on the social network
“This afternoon I received @EdmundoGu, to whom I have expressed my full support in his brave fight for democracy against the illegitimate regime of Nicolás Maduro. To the Venezuelan people I reiterate: in Guatemala you have a firm ally who supports your fight for freedom and respect for Human Rights. You are not alone!” Arévalo wrote on his X account.
Message from Machado
That day, María Corina Machado called on Venezuelans in Guatemala to receive the leader of the largest anti-Chavista bloc, who was in the country looking for support to return to his country and assume the Presidency that he claims to have won in the July 2024 elections, when Nicolás Maduro was proclaimed winner.
“You prepare for the return to Venezuela, you will be the protagonists of the reconstruction of the country and you will have to contribute everything you have learned in these countries, in Guatemala, El Salvador, in Honduras, in Washington, to be able to serve the country,” González told the group of Venezuelans.
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Arévalo congratulates Machado
After learning that Machado won the Nobel Prize, President Arévalo congratulated María Corina Machado on Friday for the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize and stated that it is a “deserved recognition” for her bravery.
“Dear María Corina: The Nobel Peace Prize is a well-deserved recognition of your personal struggle, courage and determination in the defense of democracy and human rights in Venezuela,” he said in the president’s X.
“Through you, the importance of the fight for democratic values, freedom and human dignity throughout the world is also recognized. Receive, on behalf of the people of Guatemala, the most cordial and fraternal greeting, world-class Venezuelan,” the head of state of the Central American country expressed to Machado.
Arévalo sent his congratulations to Machado in a message that he wrote on his official X account and was released by the Press Office of the Presidency of Guatemala.