Nobel Peace Prize Winner: María Corina Machado on Defeating Maduro, Socialism & Freeing Venezuela

Maria Corina Machado, welcome to the all in interview, and thank you for being here with me today. And congratulations on winning the Nobel Peace Prize two weeks ago. Thank you very much, David. It's my pleasure. Today, you are in hiding. In October 2023, you won the presidential primary election in Venezuela. Last March, you were disqualified from running in the general election. You appointed, ultimately a surrogate at Mundo Gonzalez. After the vote for the general election for the presidency, your party presented evidence that claimed that you had won 69 and a half percent of the votes while Maduro, through the National Electoral Council, declared that he was the winner with 51% of the votes. This is the recap of a very long story of the Maduro regime and prior to that, the Chavez regime and its effect on the people of Venezuela, which you have tried to bring to light on the global stage. I was hoping to frame up the story for our audience who may not know the history of Venezuela very well by talking a little bit about the background of the country and how your childhood and your youth brought you to the stage that you're on today. And just to provide a little bit of background and forgive me for my lengthy introduction, but I think it's important for folks to understand that the discovery of oil in Venezuela in 1914 began an economic boom that really kicked off in 1922. Today, Venezuela has proven oil reserves of 300,000,000,000 barrels, the number one proven oil reserve in the world. Saudi Arabia is number two at 266,000,000,000, and The US is at 48,000,000,000. Over the decades that followed the discovery of oil in Venezuela, there was initially an improvement in the economy through the investment by the Seven Sisters, which are a group of seven oil companies. And, ultimately, there was a transition in the country to nationalize oil production, and that led to, I think, the story that brings us here today. So, Maria, Corina, again, thank you for being here. Maybe you could tell us a little bit about your youth. Well, first of all, I have to thank you Because this is a unique decisive moment in Venezuela. We've been under this tyranny. That has turned into a real criminal structure for twenty six years. That have turned, you know, what used to be one of the freest and richest countries in The Americas into one of the poorest and with a third of our population forced to flee. So imagine what a tragedy. It shows that, you know, you can have huge, unique natural endowments, but if but that's not, wealth. You need talent. You need institutions, and you need freedom in order to turn that in the well-being of your people. I I was born in an incredible family. I I I thank the Lord because, we have a huge family. Like, Latin American family like to …