Durbin Highlights Nobel Peace Prize Recipient, María Corina Machado
Durbin spoke with Ms. Machado yesterday, praised her for her steadfast leadership for the people of Venezuela
WASHINGTON – U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) today delivered a speech on the Senate floor honoring Nobel Peace Prize recipient, María Corina Machado. Yesterday, Durbin along with Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, met virtually with Ms. Machado.
“Last week, we learned that Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado had won this year’s Nobel Peace Prize. She did so for her steadfast and courageous fight for democracy in a once proud nation that unfortunately, now under a man named Maduro, has descended into chaos and dictatorship. I had the chance to visit Venezuela in 2018 just before the country’s strongman Nicolás Maduro staged a sham election. The years that followed were a predictable disaster bringing further suffering on the Venezuelan people. In late 2023, under severe repression, the Venezuelan opposition organized a primary election that selected Ms. Machado as its candidate for the July 2024 Presidential election,” said Durbin.
Ms. Machado was fairly chosen by voters in the opposition primary to run against Nicolas Maduro in the July 2024 presidential election but was crudely kept off the final ballot by the Maduro regime. Retired Venezuelan diplomat Edmundo González ran as the substitute opposition candidate. Following the July 28 election, Maduro falsely claimed victory, despite refusing to release actual ballot data and meticulously detailed election observer data that showed a clear and overwhelming victory for Mr. González. The Maduro regime refused to peacefully transfer power by the January 2025 inauguration, instead arresting the opposition leaders, which resulted in Mr. González fleeing the country and Ms. Machado going into hiding. Durbin and Shaheen spoke to Machado in May, not long after the Maduro regime refused to peacefully transfer power.
“The Maduro regime shamefully refused to swear him as a successor to office, and he [Madura] forced him to leave the country. But María Corina Machado refused to leave. She stayed, while the regime arrested key opposition supporters and threatened her as well. And while she remains in hiding for her own safety—she has continued to fight for those election results to be respected and a return to democracy in Venezuela. That steadfast courage in the face of such cruelty is incredible and certainty worthy of the Nobel,” said Durbin.
Durbin concluded, “Senator Shaheen and I [spoke] with her yesterday. She was as determined as ever to see a better future for the people of Venezuelan. She has my continued great admiration and support on that effort.”
Video of Durbin’s remarks on the Senate floor is available here.
Audio of Durbin’s remarks on the Senate floor is available here.
Footage of Durbin’s remarks on the Senate floor is available here for TV Stations.
In September 2024, Durbin, along with Senators Tim Kaine (D-VA) and Bill Cassidy, M.D. (R-LA), met with five Latin American democracies’ ambassadors to discuss the electoral crisis in Venezuela. And earlier this year, Durbin reintroduced a bill terminating all U.S. petroleum cooperation and petroleum-related trade with Venezuela until the legitimate results of the recent Venezuelan election are respected.
In April 2018, Durbin traveled to Venezuela, where he met with then-National Assembly Member Juan Guaidó as well as Nicolás Maduro, warning him that pursuing a sham election the following month would further isolate his autocratic regime.
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