Maduro hosted a sham presidential “election” in 2024, which he intended to win through dubious vote counts. Machado is so popular in the country that, even with rampant cheating, Maduro did not allow her to run for president, outlawing her from running for any office due to her support for international sanctions on the regime. Machado ultimately supported Edmundo González, an elderly ex-diplomat, as her candidate, and tallies from local voting stations indicate that González won in a landslide. Maduro claimed a victory but never published any statistics of national votes. Maduro ultimately imposed a $100,000 bounty on González, prompting him to flee the country.

Machado remains in Venezuela, although deep in hiding for her own safety. She has been the victim of multiple physical assaults by socialist mobs since Maduro took power in 2013, including being attacked with tear gas while trying to enter her office in the National Assembly in 2014 and being beaten by a mob with sticks in 2018.

Conservative leaders around the world celebrated Machado’s victory on Friday, calling her a “well-deserved” laureate and supporting her fight against the Maduro regime. The Hispanic left, meanwhile, reacted with vitriol. Pablo Iglesias, a former Iranian propaganda television host and formerly the head of the popular Marxist Spanish political party Podemos, mused, “they could have given it directly to Trump, or even Adolf Hitler.”