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C O M M E N T A R Y   
As a Norwegian organisation working internationally on cultural rights and artistic freedom, Mimeta has looked at Nobel Peace Prize laureate María Corina Machado’s resistance to authoritarianism in Venezuela. Her persistence in the face of exclusion from elections, judicial harassment and threats has made her a powerful symbol for many who fight for democratic rights and freedom of expression. At the same time, she is also the bearer of a clear political and ideological project that extends far beyond Venezuela’s borders. In order to understand what her prominence may mean for human rights, civic space and artistic freedom more broadly, Mimeta sees it as necessary to present not only the repression she confronts, but also the political platform and transnational networks she relates to.

Venezuelan opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize laureate María Corina Machado has become a global symbol of resistance to Nicolás Maduro’s authoritarian rule. At the same time, the networks around her show that her clearest international anchoring is not in classic liberal‑centrist opposition, but in a hard and often extreme right‑wing constellation spanning the United States, Europe, Latin America and Israel. This has important implications for how the struggle over “democracy” and “freedom” in Venezuela is also being folded into a broader global culture and power struggle.

A shared anti‑socialist front
The core of Machado’s international alliances is a shared enemy: “socialism”. She links the Maduro government to an axis made up of Cuba, Nicaragua, Russia, China and Iran, and presents herself as a leading figure in a Western, anti‑socialist counter‑movement. Around this narrative she gathers support from leaders and parties that define themselves through uncompromising anti‑communism, market fundamentalism, anti‑migration rhetoric and a close geopolitical alignment with the US and Israel.

Radical neoliberalism as programme
On economic policy, Machado is firmly rooted in a radical neoliberal tradition. She has long advocated sweeping privatisation, including of Venezuela’s oil sector, drastic downsizing of the state and deregulation as tools to “liberate” the economy. This mirrors the agenda of actors such as Javier Milei in Argentina, the Trump camp in the US and several European far‑right parties that prioritise markets over redistribution and social protection. Supporters believe rapid market liberalisation is necessary, while critics warn this could resemble ‘shock-therapy’ reforms associated with past crises.

Vox and the European far right
In Europe, the Spanish far‑right party Vox most directly mirrors Machado’s rhetoric. Vox has driven the creation of the Madrid Forum and the Madrid Charter, a manifesto that frames the struggle against the left in Latin America as part of a wider civilisational defence of the “Iberosphere” and the West. Machado has signed and promoted this charter and participates in the Forum, sharing Vox’s language about “cultural Marxism”, “globalists” and a Christian‑civilisational identity under threat.

Patriots for Europe and wider party networks
Analysts also highlight rhetorical and strategic parallels with parties such as AfD in Germany and Fratelli d’Italia in Italy, as well as with clusters of far‑right and right‑populist parties grouped in the Patriots for Europe alliance. The common denominator is a combination of harsh anti‑immigration policies, Islamophobia, scepticism towards climate measures and European integration, alongside a clearly pro‑NATO, pro‑US orientation as long as it is associated with the conservative right.

Israel, Likud and civilisational war
Another key meeting point between Machado and her European and Israeli backers is a strong identification with Israel and Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud. Her party Vente Venezuela has signed a formal co‑operation agreement with Likud, focused on security, geopolitics and “Western values”. Following 7 October 2023, Machado has explicitly linked Venezuela’s struggle against Chavismo to Israel’s war against Hamas and Iran’s influence, describing them as fronts in the same civilisational conflict. This rhetoric is echoed by several European far‑right parties that use support for Israel as a marker of Western identity while attacking Muslim minorities and refugees at home.

Conservative backlash on rights
On values and social issues, many of Machado’s closest political allies internationally take a distinctly conservative or reactionary line on gender, sexuality and minority rights. Several of the organisations and parties she works with, especially Vox and Trump‑aligned circles, present feminism, LGBTQ+ rights and anti‑racist policy as expressions of “cultural Marxism”. Machado is often more coded in her public language, but by embedding herself in these networks she locates herself in a political camp that in practice pushes back against many recent equality and rights reforms.

Liberal‑institutional support in parallel
At the same time, there is another, more institutional layer of support. A range of European governments, EU institutions, UN bodies, human rights organisations and now, the Nobel system, have elevated her primarily as a symbol of the struggle for democratic rights, free elections and protection from political persecution rather than as an icon of neoliberal reform or culture war. This more centrist backing focuses on rule‑of‑law violations and electoral manipulation in Venezuela and often avoids endorsing her broader economic and geopolitical project.

A double image of “freedom”
The result is a double image: on the one hand, broad principled solidarity against Maduro’s authoritarian practices; on the other, a tight ideological core that binds Machado to the transnational far right. It is in this core that the shared narratives of civilisational struggle, radical market faith, authoritarian anti‑socialism and a security axis running through Washington, Brussels and Jerusalem are most clearly articulated. For actors working on freedom of expression and artistic freedom, this means that support for the Venezuelan opposition cannot be understood in isolation from the ideological projects that simultaneously seek to define what “freedom” should mean – and for whom.

Nobel Peace Prize Laureate María Corina Machado’s Double Freedom Image

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