Published on Friday, October 10, 2025
By the A.M. Costa Rica staff and wire services

Costa Rica on Friday congratulated Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado for being awarded the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize.

“This international recognition highlights her courageous commitment to defending human rights, promoting democracy, and tirelessly fighting against oppression in Venezuela,” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement.

The ministry noted that Machado was honored for her leadership in pursuing peaceful, democratic solutions amid Venezuela’s political and social crisis. “Her steadfast and consistent voice has emphasized the importance of dialogue, justice, and the protection of fundamental freedoms, values that Costa Rica has historically promoted as pillars of peaceful coexistence,” the statement said.

Authorities described the award as a significant step toward restoring democracy in Venezuela, adding that it “serves as an inspiration for all who long for fair, transparent governments that respect the rights of their citizens.” Costa Rica reaffirmed its solidarity with the Venezuelan people and its commitment to democratic values, peace, and human rights throughout the region.

The Norwegian Nobel Committee announced Machado’s win on Friday, citing her “struggle to achieve a just and peaceful transition from dictatorship to democracy.” The committee described her work as “one of the most extraordinary examples of civilian courage in Latin America in recent times.”

Despite being barred from running for president and living in hiding, Machado “keeps the flame of democracy burning amid a growing darkness” in President Nicolás Maduro’s “brutal, authoritarian” Venezuela, the committee added.

In a video posted to the Nobel Prize website and social media, Machado expressed shock at the news. “Oh my God, I have no words. I am just one person. I certainly do not deserve this,” she said. “This is the achievement of a whole society.”

Machado, 58, has been one of the most vocal critics of Maduro’s United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV), which first came to power under former President Hugo Chávez in the late 1990s. Maduro succeeded Chávez in 2013.

An industrial engineer by profession and a former legislator in the Venezuelan National Assembly, Machado has faced assassination attempts and legal persecution. She had hoped to run in Venezuela’s July 2024 presidential election but was banned, instead supporting Edmundo González-Urrutia’s candidacy.

The pro-Maduro National Electoral Council claimed Maduro won a third term with 51% of the vote, but the opposition disputed the results, citing evidence that González had won by a landslide. International election observers documented numerous irregularities, widely dismissing the vote as neither free nor fair.

Costa Rica joined the United States and nine other Latin American countries in rejecting Venezuela’s Supreme Court certification of Maduro’s July 28 re-election.

In January, González-Urrutia visited Costa Rica to meet with President Rodrigo Chaves-Robles, focusing on his July 2024 electoral victory and the fraud by Maduro’s regime.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MREC) is the government agency responsible for Costa Rica’s foreign policy, including the management of its diplomatic missions worldwide.

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