María Corina Machado, Venezuelan opposition leader: Our fight for freedom is a fight for peace
The Interview11 Des 2025

María Corina Machado, Venezuelan opposition leader: Our fight for freedom is a fight for peace

Lucy Hockings speaks to Venezuelan opposition leader María 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 BBC. You can listen on the BBC 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 BBC 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 #TheInterviewBBC on social media.

(Image: María Corina Machado. Photo by Ole Berg-Rusten/EPA/Shutterstock)

Episoder(1885)

Vincent Clerc, CEO of Maersk: Freedom of navigation will depend on some kind of deal between the two sides at war

Vincent Clerc, CEO of Maersk: Freedom of navigation will depend on some kind of deal between the two sides at war

“We need to get back to something where freedom of navigation and peaceful navigation is restored, and that will depend on some kind of deal between the two sides in that war.” Jonathan Josephs spea...

13 Mar 23min

Karim Beguir, co-founder of InstaDeep: People are too gloomy about AI

Karim Beguir, co-founder of InstaDeep: People are too gloomy about AI

“People are too gloomy about AI, particularly in the developing world it is seen as a threat, that people are going to be using AI systems, rather than offshoring jobs and the like. That's true, but y...

11 Mar 23min

Samantha Power, former US Ambassador to UN: Closing USAID was soft power suicide

Samantha Power, former US Ambassador to UN: Closing USAID was soft power suicide

“The destruction of USAID is not only one of the cruellest acts that I've seen in my career, but of course also one of the dumbest.”Caitriona Perry speaks to Samantha Power, the former American ambass...

9 Mar 23min

Julia Gillard, former Australian PM and chair at the Global Institute for Women’s Leadership: The backsliding of gender equality

Julia Gillard, former Australian PM and chair at the Global Institute for Women’s Leadership: The backsliding of gender equality

“One of the things that was going to combat gender inequality in our world was that sense of progress and then to see in the research that actually the younger generation is more conservative on these...

6 Mar 28min

Guillermo del Toro, director: I only make movies for art

Guillermo del Toro, director: I only make movies for art

“I have never made a movie I didn't believe was necessary for me or for someone in the world, whether to entertain or to connect at a spiritual level or something. It's been only done for the art.”Joh...

4 Mar 26min

Dr Nyaradzayi Gumbonzvanda, UN deputy director for women: Africa must prioritise water over war

Dr Nyaradzayi Gumbonzvanda, UN deputy director for women: Africa must prioritise water over war

“Africa is flowing with resources from oil, diamonds, critical minerals. But at times we find that in our cities, at the bus stations, there's no toilets with running water in a continent which is ric...

2 Mar 23min

Volodymyr Zelensky, President of Ukraine: We will not lose this war

Volodymyr Zelensky, President of Ukraine: We will not lose this war

“We stand and fight for survival. We are an independent state. We will definitely not lose this war”Jeremy Bowen, the BBC’s International Editor, speaks to the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky i...

27 Feb 22min

Boris Johnson and Sir Tony Radakin: Ukrainians are heroes

Boris Johnson and Sir Tony Radakin: Ukrainians are heroes

Laura Kuenssberg speaks to former British Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, and former head of the British Armed Forces, Admiral Sir Tony Radakin, about the war in Ukraine.Johnson was in Downing Street f...

25 Feb 23min

Populært innen Politikk og nyheter

giver-og-gjengen-vg
aftenpodden
aftenpodden-usa
stopp-verden
forklart
popradet
lydartikler-fra-aftenposten
det-store-bildet
rss-gukild-johaug
fotballpodden-2
rss-ness
dine-penger-pengeradet
i-retten
nokon-ma-ga
hanna-de-heldige
aftenbla-bla
frokostshowet-pa-p5
grasoner-den-nye-kalde-krigen
rss-dannet-uten-piano
e24-podden