Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday. She received the award"with profound gratitude" and said she received it "on behalf of the people of Venezuela, who have fought for their freedom with admirable courage, dignity, intelligence, and love," according to a statement she shared on social media.

She is the first Venezuelan to receive the Nobel Peace Prize, a recognition that, according to the Norwegian Nobel Committee,"honors the peaceful resistance of millions of citizens against the brutal government of Nicolás Maduro."

"We Venezuelans have suffered 26 years of violence and humiliation at the hands of a tyranny obsessed with subjugating its citizens and breaking the soul of the nation. The machinery of oppression has been brutal and systematic, characterized by detentions, torture, forced disappearances, and extrajudicial executions that constitute crimes against humanity and state terrorism," added the political leader, who has remained in hiding since the last presidential elections on July 28, 2024.

In recent weeks, a rumor has circulated on social media that María Corina Machado is taking refuge in the United States embassy. The Minister of the Interior and Justice, Diosdado Cabello, hinted that she could be sheltering there.

Machado has been the most overwhelming electoral phenomenon in Venezuela since Hugo Chávez in 1998.

Since winning the primaries in 2012, he has filled public squares and mobilized hundreds of thousands of people in the streets where his name is fervent.

"The response of the people has been firm and unyielding. We have forged a formidable civic movement, overcoming the barriers that the regime built to divide us, and we have united the nation in a powerful desire," he added in his statement on Friday.

He added:"This award is a unique boost that injects energy and confidence into Venezuelans, both at home and abroad, to complete our task. This immense support demonstrates that the global democratic community understands and shares our struggle. It is a firm call for the transition to democracy in Venezuela to be carried out immediately, as we resoundingly demanded in the electoral victory of July 28."

After the 2024 elections, in which Maduro was re-elected for a third term, until 2031, without showing the electoral results, Machado and González undertook a crusade to demonstrate, with evidence, that the opposition was the legitimate winner.

"To every Venezuelan: this award is yours. It's a recognition of what we've achieved together and a reminder of what's yet to come," Machado added this Friday.

The award has generated positive reactions and recognition for the Venezuelan opposition leader. However, as observers expected, the prize eluded US President Donald Trump on the same day that the truce between Israel and Hamas, agreed upon under pressure from the Republican leader, went into effect in Gaza.