María Corina Machado, the Venezuelan opposition leader who built a powerful social movement and became the most significant threat and detested adversary to the country’s long-standing authoritarian regime, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday.

A conservative former member of the National Assembly, Machado has been a driving force in opposing a quarter century of socialist rule that has grown increasingly repressive under President Nicolás Maduro. She has been living in hiding since last year, when Maduro cracked down on the opposition after claiming victory in an election that was widely seen by independent analysts as fraudulent.

The Norwegian Nobel Committee praised Machado for her “tireless work promoting democratic rights for the people of Venezuela and for her struggle to ac

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