The Interview11 Dec 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)

Det här avsnittet är hämtat från ett öppet RSS-flöde och publiceras inte av Podme. Det kan innehålla reklam.

Avsnitt(1939)

Christopher Nolan, director: We need to take risks

“The biggest risk in motion pictures is to not take a risk. You have to be putting it out there and offering people something new, and that's what will get them out of their houses.”Katie Razzall spea...

16 Juli 23min

Jim Continenza, Kodak CEO: Reinventing a brand

“We were losing about $160 million a year. We burned through our cash and we had to make some changes. I don’t mean a financial restructuring. I mean transformation of the business. It’s a skill and a...

14 Juli 22min

Patrick Tiernan: War risk is being rewritten

“As there is more drone warfare, more artificial intelligence in the decision making, we’re going to have to completely reimagine how we cover [war]”Business presenter Felicity Hannah speaks to Patric...

12 Juli 22min

Jacob Zuma’s daughters: Polygamy is a subject we lived

“It's a subject that I know I've lived, I've seen up close…That includes watching my father. That includes the relationships that I saw him have.” Presenter Anne Soy speaks to Gugu Zuma-Ncube and Th...

9 Juli 23min

Steve Hilton: Brit running for California governor

“I'm a proud American. I became a citizen in 2021. I feel at home here both in America and actually, in a way I actually have never felt before. I feel like this is where I'm meant to be, and I couldn...

7 Juli 23min

Victor Glover, astronaut: We went into sci-fi

“The last thing to come into view was this blue glow, and we could see craters and the surface of the Moon. But the Sun is on the other side, so what was lighting the Moon? It was ‘Earthshine’, the li...

5 Juli 23min

Jackie Jantos, Hinge CEO: Gen Z struggle to connect

Sean Farrington speaks to Jackie Jantos, CEO of popular mobile dating app Hinge, about finding romance in today’s rapidly-changing digital world.Launched back in 2013, US-based Hinge has steadily grow...

2 Juli 23min

Katie Sadleir, Commonwealth Games: They are still relevant

“It had grown to be quite an expensive event. Our members wanted to host the games, and because of the size and the scale of the event that was not possible.”Mani Djazmi speaks to Katie Sadleir, CEO o...

30 Juni 23min