The struggle for freedom has always lived within us - a lecture by Maria Corina Machado, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize from Venezuela
(Read by Ana Corina Sosa Machado) Oslo, December 10, 2025 Distinguished people, honorable members, honorary members of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, citizens of the world and my dear Venezuelans! I came here to tell a story: it's a story about a nation, about its difficult path to freedom.
Today, this road has brought the fireplace to you as the voice of millions of Venezuelans who once again raised their heads to take back the lands that belonged to them from time immemorial. Venezuela was built by the determination of peoples and cultures.
We inherited language, culture and faith from Spain - this heritage has merged with our Tuber ancestors and our African roots. In 1811, we wrote the first constitution in the Spanish-speaking world, which is considered one of the first republican encyclopedias in history, and in which the strong idea of the sovereign dignity of every human being was confirmed.
In this constitution, citizenship, individual rights, freedom of religion and separation of powers were stated. Our ancestors carried freedom on their shoulders.
They say "freedom is not complete until it is shared" following the idea, they crossed the entire continent from the shores of the Orinoco [1] to the hills of Potosi [2] to help build a society where free and equal citizens live. From the very beginning, we have believed in a simple and noble idea: every human being is born to live free!
This belief has become our national spirit. By the turn of the twentieth century, the ground broke: in 1922, the nine-day Reventon [4] of La Rosa [3] took place.
Here is a fountain of oil and opportunities for you! Thankfully, we were able to turn that sense of wealth into fuel for knowledge and imagination.
With the help of our scientists, we put an end to the disaster. We built world-renowned universities, museums and concert halls, we sent thousands of young Venezuelans abroad through grants, believing that freedom of thought would certainly bring reforms.
Our cities sparkled with the kinetic artworks of Cruz-Diez [5] and Soto [6]. We have produced steel, aluminum and hydropower — It was proof that Venezuela can build anything it can imagine.
Venezuela has also become a haven. We opened our hearts to migrants and refugees from all over the world: Spaniards fleeing civil war, Italians and Portuguese fed up with poverty and dictatorship, Jews who suffered from the Holocaust, citizens of Chile, Argentina and Uruguay who fled the military regime, Cubans who enjoyed communism and families who came from Colombia, Lebanon and Syria seeking peace.
We provided them with housing, schools and security. So they became Venezuelans.
Here is the real Venezuela. The democracy we built has become the most moderate system in Latin America, and freedom has emerged as a creative force.
But even the strongest democracy weakens when citizens forget that one should not wait for freedom, but one should become free. It is a conscious, personal choice, and the sum of such choices forms a civic ethic that needs to be renewed daily.
The accumulation of oil revenues in the state created the opposite motive: it gave the government unlimited power over society, opening the way for special privileges, patronage and corruption. My generation was born into a vibrant democratic era, so we didn't appreciate it enough.
We thought that freedom is as eternal as the air we breathe. We enjoyed our rights, but our duties were forgotten.
I was raised by my father, whose life activity - building, creating, serving - taught me that loving this country means taking a responsible look at its future. Before we realize how weak our institutions have become, the man who once led a military coup to overthrow democracy is elected president.
Many have concluded that charisma can replace the rule of law. Since 1999, the current regime has proceeded to destroy our democracy: the Constitution has been violated, our history falsified, the military weakened, independent judges suppressed, the press censored, elections manipulated, dissent persecuted, and our unique ethnic diversity undermined.
Oil wealth was spent not to raise the people, but to bend them. Washing machines and refrigerators were distributed to families living in slums on national television; but this was not a sign of development at all, it was just an event for farmers.
Apartments allocated as social housing were awarded to a few people as a reward for obedience. Then there was destruction: Open corruption, historical robbery.
During the regime, Venezuela made more money from oil than in the previous century. But they were all stolen.
At a time when domestic criminal and international terrorist groups have established themselves in the country, oil funds have become a means of buying loyalty from abroad. The economy will collapse by more than 80 percent.
Poverty has exceeded 86 percent. Nine million Venezuelans were forced to flee their country.
These are not statistics, these are open wounds. In the meantime, a more serious, country-destroying situation occurred.
It was a conscious method: dividing the society according to ideology, race, lineage, lifestyle; encourage Venezuelans not to trust each other, to silence each other, to view each other as enemies. They strangled us, captured us, killed us, exiled us.
We have been fighting against the bloodthirsty dictatorship for almost thirty years. We've tried everything, but: secret communications were exposed, protests involving millions were suppressed, elections were falsified.
Hope was completely shattered, all hope for the future was completely extinguished. The idea of change seemed either simple or stupid.
Everything was impossible. However, from the depths of that despair, one step, which seemed too lively and too formal, awakened a power that changed the course of our history.
We have decided to hold primary elections against all enemies. It was unexpected rebellion.
But we chose to trust the people. How many paths did we take to rediscover each other in a country with constant gas shortages, daily blackouts and a failing communication system?
No advertising, no money, no media to boldly mention our name - we were armed only with faith. Our only hope was word of mouth, and luckily our voice spread faster than any propaganda campaign.
Because the thirst for a man inside us was natural. Forced migration, which was expected to disperse us, instead brought us together around one sacred goal.
Even if it is - reunification of families in our country! Grandparents told me that it is the greatest hadith to leave the world without seeing their grandchildren abroad; the little girls, whose sorrowful breaths could not fit into the soft voice, begged me to bring back their mothers and those who had given birth, who were scattered across the continents.
Our pain disappeared in a heartbeat: "bring our children home!" In May 2023, at a rally in the town of Nirgua, a teacher named Carmen came to me. He told me that he had just met Jefa de Calle [7]: he was an agent of the regime assigned to the quarter where Carmen lived, who went from house to house to decide who would be given a monthly ration and who would be punished by starvation.
Carmen, who was surprised to see the overseer here, is from her "What are you doing here?" he asked. Jefa de Calle replied: "My only son, who fled to Peru, appointed me to be here today.
If you win, I will bring you home. Now tell me, how can I help you?" That day, love won over fear!
Two weeks later, we entered the village of Delisias, which was occupied by Colombian guerrillas and drug dealers, where it was impossible to sell even a single chicken without the permission of the criminal gang. Since 1978, not a single candidate has stepped foot here.
As we climbed the mountain, I noticed the Venezuelan flag flying in every modest house. I simply asked if there was a holiday today.
Someone whispered, "No. They keep the flag hidden here.
It's dangerous to take it out. Today, people raised their flags to thank you for daring to come.
You go...we stay, and they'll find out who we are..." All family members resisted the armed groups that controlled their lives. As we sing the national anthem together, sovereignty is restored in a single, fragile yet resolute chorus.
On that day, courage won over oppression. Our rallies turned into exciting meetings of thousands of people.
We hugged each other, cried and prayed. We realized that the election was nothing in front of our struggles.
There was a moral issue in this: the fight for the truth! Matter of Survival: Fight for Life!
A Matter of Spirit: A Fight for Goodness! Less than a year before the presidential election, we had to unite all democratic forces and restore confidence in voting.
That moment became a primer: a self-organizing civil movement that created a nationwide civic network unprecedented in Venezuelan history. On October 22, 2023, against all enemies, Venezuela woke up.
The diaspora, which makes up a third of our nation, has regained the right to vote. The departed son stood next to his mother and voted.
Queues stretched for several blocks. There were so many voters that there were not enough ballots.
We believed in the people, and the people believed in us. The movement, which started as a mechanism for legalizing the leadership, was connected to the re-emergence of self-confidence of the nation.
On that day, I received a responsibility, a mandate, more than any personal interest. I kept myself humble and deeply felt the responsibility assigned to me.
Shocked by this news, the current regime forbade me to participate in the presidential election. No matter how hard it was, the mandates belonged to the people.
For this reason, we decided to find another candidate for my place. Edmundo González Urrutia, a bold and courageous former diplomat, appeared.
Tuzum believed that he did not pose any danger. They ignored the tenacity of millions of citizens - a passionate community united in all its diversity towards a common goal.
Communities, political parties, trade unions, students and civil society worked together to make the nation's voice heard. Election day was only three months away, but still no one knew our candidate.
However, the votes alone were not enough, there was also the issue of their protection. For more than a year, we have created the infrastructure for this: 600,000 volunteers at 30,000 polling stations; Apps for scanning QR codes, digital platforms, diaspora call centers.
We have placed scanners, Starlink antennas and laptops hidden inside fruit trucks in the most remote corners of Venezuela. Technology has become a tool to fight for freedom.
Clandestine sessions were held at dawn in church backrooms, kitchens, and basements using printed materials smuggled across the country. Election Day has finally arrived: July 28, 2024.
Before noon, the streets were filled with people. The surroundings are quiet, the air is filled with trembling hope.
Our live tracking showed an increase in visits across every state and city. After that, ballot papers, the sacred proof of the will of the people, started reaching us first by phone, then by WhatsApp, then by photographing, then by scanning, and finally by hand, on mules, and even by canoe.
As if a volcano of truth erupted, leaflets were being closed everywhere, as thousands of citizens risked their lives to protect the ballots. Faced with our great victory, the regime, in desperation, issued the following order: the soldiers were to evict our volunteers from the polling centers and prevent them from receiving their ballots.
However, the soldiers did not obey the order. Edmundo Gonzalez won with 67 percent of the vote, counting every state, city and village.
Every invoice confirmed this. Within hours, they were digitized and posted on a website for the world to see.
The dictatorship responded with terror. 2500 people were abducted, disappeared and tortured.
Houses were surrounded. Entire families were taken as hostages.
Priests, teachers, nurses, students, everyone who distributed the score sheet were arrested. All of these were actions documented by the United Nations as crimes against humanity.
This was state terrorism aimed at burying the will of the people. Some of the more than 220 children arrested after the election were tortured with electric shocks, beaten and even strangled until they confessed to the lie that the government needed - that they had received financial incentives from me in exchange for their participation in the rebellion.
Women and girls in prisons are still forced to endure sexual violence in order to be allowed to see their families, eat or bathe. But even then, the Venezuelan people did not back down.
Over the past sixteen months of covert activity, we have established new networks of civil pressure and disciplined disobedience to ensure Venezuela's orderly transition to democracy. Thus, we have reached the day when the echoes of millions of people standing on the threshold of freedom are heard today.
This award has a deep meaning; it reminds the world that democracy is necessary for peace to be sustainable. Most importantly, we, Venezuelans, can share with the whole world the lessons we learned during this long and difficult journey: if you want to achieve democracy, you must be ready to fight for freedom!
And the choice of freedom needs to be developed every day, and its value is measured by how much we are willing and courageous to defend it. For this reason, the issue of Venezuela has gone beyond our internal borders.
A nation that chooses freedom benefits not only itself, but the whole of humanity. When we stop turning our backs on each other, when we face the truth no matter how hard it is, when our love for life gives us the strength to endure and win, we will be free.
Only with this inner harmony, this life integrity, we can lead a bright destiny. Only then will we truly become ourselves, and our life will be worth living.
On the way to freedom, we awakened the trust that lies deep in our hearts - it gave our life a deep meaning, prepared us to build a great future in harmony. It turns out that peace is actually love.
This love has already affected our day tomorrow. Venezuela will breathe freely again!
We open the doors of prisons and watch thousands of unjustly imprisoned people come out into the light, throw themselves into the arms of loved ones who have not stopped fighting for their freedom. We meet grandparents who hold their grandchildren in their arms and tell stories about the bravery of their parents, not their ancestors who passed away in ancient history.
Finally, we see students who are freely raising their voices and fearlessly debating different ideas. We hug each other again.
We will fall in love again. We listen to the laughter and music that fills our streets.
The happiness that has become common for the people of the world will also be ours. My dear Venezuelans, today the whole world is in awe of what we have achieved.
Soon, he will witness one of the most impressive events of our time: our loved ones will return home, and I will stand on the Simon Bolivar Bridge, where I once cried among thousands of people leaving the country, and I will welcome them with confidence in a bright future. Because the struggle for freedom has always lived within us.
And now we are coming back to ourselves. We are returning home.
If you allow me to honor the heroes of this arduous journey. They are our political prisoners, persecuted people, their families and all human rights defenders; those who sheltered us, fed us, and risked their lives to protect us; journalists who refused to remain silent, artists who became our bold voice; my wonderful team, mentors, politically and socially active colleagues; leaders around the world who have joined and advocated for us; my three children, my precious father, my mother, my three sisters, my fearless and loving husband who supported me all my life; and most importantly, the millions of Venezuelans who risked their homes, families, and lives for their love.
This honor is theirs! This day is theirs!
The future is theirs! Thanks!
Translation by Shokhrukh Usmanov Oyina.uz
