Machado, a 58-year-old industrial engineer who lives in hiding in Venezuela, was blocked by its courts from running for president against President Nicolas Maduro in the 2024 elections.
Hailing Machado as one of the most extraordinary examples of civilian courage in Latin America, it added that Machado had 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.
Machado ran as the democratic opposition candidate in Venezuela’s 2024 presidential election but was disqualified by Maduro’s government and went on to support the opposition’s alternative candidate, Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia.
Incumbent Maduro won re-election that year with 51 percent of the vote – his third win since he first took over as president in 2013 after the death of his mentor, former President Hugo Chavez.
