'Indian democracy an example for many countries': Nobel Peace Prize winner Machado

2025 Nobel Peace Prize winner Maria Corina Machado lauded the Indian democracy and called it an example for countries around the world. For the past two decades, Machado has been campaigning for the retention of democracy in Venezuela.

While speaking to Times Now, from an undisclosed location, Machado described India as a “great democracy”. She insisted that India could be a “great ally” with whom Venezuela can strengthen ties on multiple fronts once the Latin American nation achieves transition to democracy.

Machado went on to express her hopes to speak to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and “host him in a free Venezuela very soon.” When asked about India’s role in the modern world, Machado said, “India has been an example for many countries, for many generations, of being the largest democracy in the region and in the world. This is huge. And you also have a responsibility to take good care of it because so many people, countries around the world, look up to you. Democracies can always be strengthened and should never be taken for granted.”

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“I admire India with all my heart,” Machado said. “My daughter was there just a couple of months ago, but I’ve never been to India. She loves your country. I have many friends, Venezuelan friends who live there. And of course, I follow Indian politics,” she added.

Machado was inspired by Mahatma Gandhi

In the Times Now interview, Machado said that she was inspired by Mahatma Gandhi’s non-violent struggle for freedom against the British colonisers. “Being peaceful is not weakness, and Gandhi showed the whole of humanity what that meant,” she said.

“We need India’s voice as a great democracy to speak out for the rights of the Venezuelan people and popular sovereignty. I also want to imagine once Venezuela moves ahead and we dismantle all the criminal socialist structures that have brought so much pain and devastation, there will be great opportunities for Indian companies to invest not only in energy, but also in infrastructure and telecom,” she added.

During the conversation, Machado spoke at length about the 2024 Presidential elections, a verdict she alleged was stolen by the Venezuelan government under Nicholas Maduro.

“On July 28, 2024, we won a presidential election by a landslide. I had been previously elected as the primary winner to be the opposition candidate. I won with 93% of the votes, but the regime banned me from running as a candidate. So, a very courageous and honest man, a career diplomat, accepted this huge responsibility and honour. We won with 70 per cent of the vote, and we were able to prove it. We gathered 85 per cent of the original tally sheets. We digitised them. Once we won, we offered Maduro the possibility of a negotiated transition in which we offered guarantees. But he refused and unleashed the worst repression wave we’ve seen in our history. Thousands of innocent Venezuelans have disappeared. Children and women were abused, tortured, even killed,” she recalled.

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The Venezuelan politician went on to describe US President Donald Trump as a “main ally” in the fight for democracy in the South American nation.

“The whole world knows the kind of criminals these individuals (Maduro and his colleagues) are, but now with firm action on behalf of the US, and the Trump administration, and this coalition that has been building with countries in Latin America, in the Caribbean, in Europe, I hope in Asia as well, Maduro has started to understand that his time is over, and that his best option is to accept the terms of a negotiated transition with guarantees that we have offered,” she averred.