Maria Corina Machado informed CBS Information on 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 big motion,” Machado informed CBS Information by Zoom. “We aren’t alone. The world acknowledges this big, epic battle.”
Machado is the chief of the pro-democracy motion in Venezuela, which is underneath a dictatorship so brutal she has been pressured to reside in hiding.
“That is definitely the largest recognition to our individuals,” Machado informed CBS Information, which was the one U.S. media outlet to talk to her following Friday’s announcement.
Often called 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 as a substitute declared opposition chief Edmundo González, now exiled, because the winner.
For the previous a number of months, the Trump administration has positioned strain on Maduro’s regime, deploying warships to the southern Caribbean and conducting army strikes on alleged 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 maintaining “the flame of democracy burning amidst a rising darkness,” the Norwegian Nobel Committee mentioned Friday 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 a complete society. I’m only one particular person; I definitely don’t deserve this. Oh my God.”
Machado’s defiance has come at a value. 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 feel it does give me quite a lot of safety,” mentioned Machado of how receiving the Nobel could have modified her future and her safety scenario. “However an important factor, is that it highlights, worldwide, the significance of the wrestle of Venezuela.”
Machado informed CBS Information she spoke to President Trump on Friday and thanked him “from the underside of the center of Venezuelans.”
She mentioned she informed Mr. Trump that he can “ensure that we’re a society dedicated to freedom, that we’ll prevail.”
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