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Mozambique: Venâncio Mondlane congratulates Nobel Peace Prize winner – AIM
5:30 CAT | 10 Oct 2025
File photo: Lusa
The leader of the National Alliance for a Free and Autonomous Mozambique (Anamola), Venancio Mondlane, has congratulated Venezuelan opposition leader, Maria Corinna Machado, for winning the Nobel Peace Prize.
Mondlane’s message said he had received the news “with immense joy and deep admiration”.
“Your tireless work in promoting the democratic rights of the Venezuelan people, your courageous struggle for a just and peaceful transition to democracy, your unshakeable determination, even under threat, lights the path for all of us who dream of a fair and free world”.
“Your struggle is the beacon of hope in times of darkness, proving that peaceful resistance and commitment to the truth can change the course of history”, Mondlane declared.
The Nobel prize “renews the hopes of those oppressed and deprived of justice by dictatorial regimes, and inspires generations to rise up against oppression and against regimes that use electoral fraud to remain in power”.
In awarding the prize, the Nobel Committee declared that Machado “has led the struggle for democracy in the face of ever-expanding authoritarianism in Venezuela”.
Summarising her political career, the Committee noted that “In 2010 she was elected to the National Assembly, winning a record number of votes. The regime expelled her from office in 2014”
She then helped set up the Vente Venezuela opposition party “and in 2017 helped found the Soy Venezuela alliance, which unites pro-democracy forces in the country across political dividing lines”.
Machado declared her candidacy for president in the 2024 presidential election, and when she was blocked from running, she supported the opposition’s alternative candidate, Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia. Despite evidence of massive electoral fraud, the regime of Nicolas Maduro “declared victory and tightened its grip on power”.
The Committee declared that Machado “is receiving the Nobel Peace Prize first and foremost for her efforts to advance democracy in Venezuela. But democracy is also in retreat internationally. Democracy – understood as the right to freely express one’s opinion, to cast one’s vote and to be represented in elective government – is the foundation of peace both within countries and between countries”.
A press release from the Nobel Committee described Machado as “one of the most extraordinary examples of civilian courage in Latin America in recent times”.
“Ms Machado has been a key, unifying figure in a political opposition that was once deeply divided – an opposition that found common ground in the demand for free elections and representative government”, said the release. “This is precisely what lies at the heart of democracy: our shared willingness to defend the principles of popular rule, even though we disagree. At a time when democracy is under threat, it is more important than ever to defend this common ground”.
“Venezuela’s authoritarian regime makes political work extremely difficult”, the Committee said. “As a founder of Súmate, an organisation devoted to democratic development, Ms Machado stood up for free and fair elections more than 20 years ago. As she said: “It was a choice of ballots over bullets.” In political office and in her service to organisations since then, Ms Machado has spoken out for judicial independence, human rights and popular representation.
In the 2024 presidential election, the release added, “the opposition received international support when its leaders publicised the vote counts that had been collected from the country’s election districts, showing that the opposition had won by a clear margin. But the regime refused to accept the election result, and clung to power”.
The Committee adds that “the Venezuelan regime’s rigid hold on power and its repression of the population are not unique in the world. We see the same trends globally: rule of law abused by those in control, free media silenced, critics imprisoned, and societies pushed towards authoritarian rule and militarisation. In 2024, more elections were held than ever before, but fewer and fewer are free and fair”.
The Nobel Committee did not mention the desperate attempt by US President Donald Trump to lay claim to the prize.
So far, Mondlane is the only Mozambican politician to react to the award of the prize to Machado.
Source: AIM
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