MarÃa Corina Machado, Venezuelan opposition leader: ‘our fight for freedom is a fight for peace’
Lucy Hockings speaks to Venezuelan opposition leader MarÃa Corina Machado about the fight for democracy in the South American country: ‘our fight for freedom is a fight for peace’
Lucy Hockings speaks to Venezuelan opposition leader MarÃa Corina Machado about the fight for democracy in the South American country.
She’s been in hiding since last year’s presidential election in Venezuela, when incumbent Nicolás Maduro declared victory in a contest that was widely dismissed on the international stage as rigged, sparking widespread protests.
Around 2,000 people were arrested in the crackdown which followed, among them many members of her opposition coalition. Machado, who had managed to unite the bitterly divided opposition ahead of the election, went into hiding for fear of arrest. She has however continued to give interviews and uploaded videos to social media urging her followers not to give up.
The Nobel Institute awarded Machado the 2025 Peace prize for “her struggle to achieve a just and peaceful transition from dictatorship to democracy" in Venezuela. She defied a travel ban to reach Oslo, with Nobel Committee chair Jørgen Watne Frydnes describing her journey as "a situation of extreme danger".
The Interview brings you conversations with people shaping our world, from all over the world. The best interviews from the Âé¶¹Éç. You can listen on the Âé¶¹Éç World Service on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 0800 GMT. Or you can listen to The Interview as a podcast, out three times a week on Âé¶¹Éç Sounds or wherever you get your podcasts.
Presenter: Lucy Hockings
Producer: Dylan Arzoni, Claire Noble and Ben Cooper
Editors: Justine Lang and Nick Holland
Get in touch with us on email TheInterview@bbc.co.uk and use the hashtag #TheInterviewÂé¶¹Éç on social media.
(Image: MarÃa Corina Machado. Photo by Ole Berg-Rusten/EPA/Shutterstock)
Last on
Featured
-
.
Broadcasts
- Friday 08:06GMTÂé¶¹Éç World Service
- Friday 15:06GMTÂé¶¹Éç World Service except East and Southern Africa & West and Central Africa
- Friday 18:06GMTÂé¶¹Éç World Service East and Southern Africa & West and Central Africa only
- Friday 23:06GMTÂé¶¹Éç World Service except East and Southern Africa & West and Central Africa
Podcast
-
The Interview
Conversations with people shaping our world. The best interviews from the Âé¶¹Éç