María Corina Machado e a chama da democracia: lições de liderança e inglês executivo

Em um momento histórico para a América Latina, María Corina Machado tornou-se a vencedora do Prêmio Nobel da Paz de 2025. Engenheira industrial e líder política venezuelana, ela representa coragem civil e compromisso com a liberdade em um país marcado por repressão e autoritarismo. Sua trajetória combina preparo técnico, visão humanista e uma resistência pacífica diante de ameaças constantes. Este texto em inglês, usado como material de aprendizado, é também uma homenagem à sua luta pela democracia — uma oportunidade de praticar o idioma enquanto se reflete sobre coragem, dignidade e esperança.

María Corina Machado: The Flame of Democracy

María Corina Machado is an industrial engineer who turned civic leader. She studied engineering and finance, created the Atenea Foundation in 1992 to support street children in Caracas, co-founded Súmate in 2002 to train citizens and monitor elections, won a record vote for the National Assembly in 2010, and was expelled from office in 2014. She now leads Vente Venezuela and helped launch the Soy Venezuela alliance to unite democratic forces. The Norwegian Nobel Committee credits her with advancing democratic rights and seeking a just and peaceful transition in her country.

Her fight centers on free and fair elections, representative government, and nonviolent civic action. After winning the 2023 opposition primary, she was barred from the 2024 presidential ballot and backed Edmundo González Urrutia while documenting abuses and mobilizing voters across the country. When the regime claimed victory, she did not leave Venezuela and instead continued to advocate for a constitutional path, even while living in hiding and facing threats. Manenkov, Garcia Cano and Moulson reported that the Nobel committee called her a key unifying figure within a once divided opposition and highlighted the serious risks she chose to face inside the country.

The committee’s language underscores her purpose. It says she “keeps the flame of democracy burning amidst a growing darkness” and praises her “tireless work” to secure rights that form the foundation of peace within and between nations. Its press release frames her mission as a peaceful transition from dictatorship to democracy, grounded in the right to speak, to vote, and to be represented.

Recognition before the Nobel already reflected that trajectory. The European Parliament awarded her the 2024 Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought for leading democratic forces alongside González Urrutia. The Council of Europe’s Parliamentary Assembly granted her the Václav Havel Human Rights Prize the same year, citing her civil society leadership and defense of the rule of law. These honors situate her as a regional voice for democracy and human dignity.