María Corina Machado is the leader of the democratic movement in Venezuela, having secured an overwhelming 92% of the vote in the opposition primaries of October 2023. She is the founder and national coordinator of VENTE Venezuela, a political party established in 2012. Although the Maduro regime subsequently disqualified her from participating in the 2024 presidential elections, Machado spearheaded the campaign that led to the election of Edmundo González Urrutia with nearly 70% of the national vote.

She organized an unprecedented electoral transparency initiative that successfully verified the election results through the documentation and digitization of over 83% of official tally sheets, a feat achieved through the mobilization of nearly one million volunteers across the country.

Despite ongoing persecution and operating from hiding, Machado continues to lead efforts, alongside Venezuelans and the international community, to achieve a democratic transition. Her leadership has been internationally recognized: she has been named among the BBC’s 100 most inspiring and influential women, included in TIME Magazine’s list of the 100 most influential people of 2025, and awarded both the Václav Havel Human Rights Prize by the Council of Europe and the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought by the European Parliament.

She holds a degree in Industrial Engineering from Andrés Bello Catholic University (UCAB), with a specialization in Finance from the Institute of Advanced Management Studies (IESA), and is an alumna of Yale University’s World Fellows Program. She is the mother of three children.