Introduction: I was born and raised in Venezuela — once the most prosperous nation in South America. However, at the time of my birth, Hugo Chávez was in power in Venezuela and his brutal dictatorship ruined my country’s future, violated all human rights, expropriated the truth — all to stay in power. Now, President Donald J. Trump’s MAGA movement is beginning to resemble the dictatorship that my countrymen and I have fought against for the past three decades. My hope is to share this cautionary tale with those Americans who can clearly see their democracy is currently under assault. 

 

In the last 25 years, 8 million Venezuelans, including me, have fled in fear of being arrested or killed, or simply in search of a better life with freedom and opportunities. Thousands of people have been imprisoned and tortured for their beliefs and opinions. We have lost five elections to rigged results. Families have been torn apart, people have died from a lack of medicine, and children from starvation. But somehow, we always end up hoping…no matter how ridiculous it seems. Because no matter how many tragedies, deaths, and things are stolen from us, there is always some light that shines on us to keep fighting.

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Democracy Becomes Resistance: On October 10, 2025, the Norwegian Nobel Committee awarded Maria Corina Machado the Nobel Peace Prize, “for her tireless work promoting democratic rights for the people of Venezuela and for her struggle to achieve a just and peaceful transition from dictatorship to democracy.”

 

Who is Maria Corina Machado? A timeline: Maria Corina Machado entered politics in 2001 when she created a non-governmental organization to ensure Venezuela held fair and democratic elections. 

 

• In 2004, when she proved the government wrong about the electoral results from a referendum, she was charged with treason and conspiracy. 

 

• In 2011, she was chosen as a deputy for the National Assembly by the state of Miranda, making her the candidate with the most votes in the country’s history.

 

• During her time as a deputy member of the Assembly, she stood up to President Hugo Chávez, the founding father of the authoritarian Chavismo regime under which Nicolás Maduro now governs as his predecessor, about the suffering the Venezuelan people were experiencing under his rule. His response to her was, “An eagle doesn’t hunt a fly,” and “Talk to me when you’ve won the primary elections. You don’t have the status to debate me.” His party continuously ridiculed, undermined, and even physically attacked her.

 

• In 2014, Venezuela was overtaken by protests against the Chavismo regime (after Chávez died and Maduro had just taken power) because of the government’s economic decisions, which resulted in the highest inflation in the world up to that point, chronic scarcity of basic necessities such as food and medicine, and the lack of civil rights. Many people were killed, hunted, imprisoned, and tortured for taking part in these demonstrations. Maria Corina Machado knew that she couldn’t beg the government to stop, all of that was their doing, so she sought help elsewhere.

 

• On March 21, 2014, Machado spoke at the Organization of American States (OAS) at the request of Panama about what was happening in Venezuela and begged them for help. Upon her return to the country, the government claimed her appearance at the organization was unconstitutional and removed her from the Assembly illegally.

 

• For years, she stayed away from the public eye, working from the opposition internally and preparing a presidential campaign for the elections of 2024. And as Chávez had dared her, she won the primary opposition election with an overwhelming majority. She ignited and inspired the people of Venezuela to vote and to hope for democracy in a country that had only seen misery for decades, and that is exactly what the government feared.

 

• In January 2024, Maduro’s government banned her from running in the upcoming elections and any election in the next 15 years. But this didn’t stop her. In her place, she nominated Edmundo González-Urrutia because she didn’t care about ruling herself; she just wanted to see democracy win.

 

Together, they held a campaign against all odds. They weren’t allowed to put up banners or do any interviews on national media (all owned by the government). They traveled the entire country with a truck and a microphone to spread their message. Together, they gave people back their hope and the inspiration to fight for their rights.

 

The presidential election of July 28, 2024:

Voting polls were full, something that hadn’t been seen in years. People confronted government officials when they weren’t allowed into voting centers. They documented when a machine was tampered with. But most importantly, people obeyed Maria Corina’s request throughout the campaign: “When the polls close, you can legally ask to see the voting records from your center, and you need to keep those records.”

 

When the results were read, hope fell: the National Electoral Center declared Maduro the winner. However, Maria Corina was ten steps ahead. With the help of Venezuelans, she compiled 85% of all voting records across the country and made them public. She had proof that the opposition had won and that democracy was still alive.

 

People marched through the streets demanding that the true results be recognized, but like any authoritarian government, they used force against anyone who opposed them. Once again, hundreds were arrested, kidnapped, and even killed at the hands of Maduro and his fraudulent elections. And even with the government out for her head (figuratively speaking), she marched alongside her people and never budged under any threat.

 

Nevertheless, for her safety, she has to live in hiding. 

 

The last time she was seen was on January 9 at a protest for the legitimate president, Edmundo González-Urrutia, to be sworn in. But as she was heading back into hiding, she was captured by government officials but managed to escape on the spot. Since then, she has not been seen and lives hidden from the regime.

 

This is the classic tale of being Venezuelan: To be Venezuelan means to hope, only for it to be snatched away in a matter of seconds. It’s a repeating cycle we have lived through since Hugo Chávez took power in 1999, when we lost our freedom and our rights after handing them over to those who ruled with corruption, greed, and malice.

 

A Nobel Surprise:

The last streak of hope came on October 10. The whole world had its eyes on the Nobel Prize Committee because everyone was either rooting for or against one man: President Donald J. Trump. Across the globe, fear set in — fear that one of the most prestigious and respected organizations on the planet would fall under the lies of a leader with authoritarian traits, the same way the United States did last November, legitimizing the fall of democratic institutions.

 

However, on the morning of October 10, my friend called me and yelled into the phone, “Maria Corina! Nobel Peace Prize!” It wasn’t even a full sentence, but it didn’t have to be. Those five words made my heart jump. “No way!” I replied. I never thought it would happen.

 

Maria Corina Machado received her Nobel Peace Prize while remaining in hiding. At the end of the day, democracy and peace go hand in hand, and in a world where the flame of democracy is diminishing, it is important to recognize the courage of those who fight for its values with their lives. Maria Corina’s journey is an ode to democratic values and peace.

 

The Norwegian Nobel Committee cannot hear enough “thank you’s” from the Venezuelan people. They did the one thing we never expected the international community to do: Recognize our prolonged fight and suffering. They awarded our hope at a time when it felt ridiculous to maintain it. Because Maria Corina Machado has become a symbol of our hope and our fight for democracy.

 

Global Democracy Is Cracking:

This year's Nobel Peace Prize award means one thing: Democracy is falling, and we must remember those who fight for it. 

 

I’ve seen a nation I’ve long admired for its democratic institutions vote for those who challenge them, and I think the greatest example of this is Donald J. Trump.

 

As any other Latin American citizen, I have looked up to the United States for its diversity, justice, and freedom. One of the reasons I love the country so much is because Americans have always found a way to fight for and protect their Constitution and their rights. And so, every time I went to the United States, I felt, as cliché as it sounds, free.

 

Last year, I was living in the United States during the presidential election. With the friends I had made, I dug into the politics and the elections as if they were mine as well. I watched every debate, followed the different campaigns, and collected as much information as I could. And every time I heard, saw, and analyzed the MAGA campaign, I thought, “This all sounds very familiar.”

 

Soon I connected the pieces. What he fought for and strived for was eerily similar to what the authoritarian government in Venezuela had fought for in the beginning. I encourage you to go back and reread the story I just told you carefully, and you’ll be able to see that some things that happened to us are starting to happen to the United States, which is the symbol of democracy around the world.

 

Americans might be thinking, “It won’t ever be that bad here.” But my country was the richest and most prosperous nation in South America throughout the 1980s and 1990s. People migrated from Europe, the Middle East, and neighboring countries to find a better life. Now, Venezuela is responsible for the largest displacement crisis in the Western Hemisphere due to fear of imprisonment, lack of basic needs, or simply family separation. And I am one of them.

 

Hard choices - Living under authoritarian rule:

I haven’t been home in a year and a half, since the July 2024 elections. I’ve been living abroad for a couple of years now, but I always used to go back to visit the remaining friends and family I have there because it’s my home. But in the last elections, I worked as a journalist to defend the right to vote, to protest, and to express opinions, and then people like me started to go missing.

 

As a family, we decided that for my safety, it was best that I leave and not return for a while. But that “while” has now begun to weigh on my chest.

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It’s not returning that I want most. It’s the opportunity and freedom to return to my home whenever I like that I want the most, without fear of being arrested, without the fear of publishing an article under my name and worrying about what might happen to my family if the government finds it, without the fear of going home to a nationwide blackout, and without the fear of being mistreated and robbed by the police.

 

This all happens when checks and balances disappear and when those in power have no respect for democracy. And that’s why I’ve decided to write this series of op-eds: to serve as a warning of what can happen when democracy is challenged.

 

Author’s Note: Throughout this series of articles, I will compare and contrast the situation of Venezuela, under authoritarian rule, with the current administration of the United States. I hope that by the end, you’ll understand the importance of democratic institutions for the survival of peace and human rights. May they serve as a letter and an encouragement to all Americans to fight for their democracy.