Maria Corina Machado told CBS News on Friday Be awarded to the Nobel Peace Prize It serves as a message to his colleagues Venezuelan that we are not alone.

“They were part of this huge movement,” Machado told CBS News by Zoom. “We are not alone. The world recognizes this huge, epic fight.”

Machado is the leader of the movement of the pro-democracy in Venezuela, who under the dictatorship is so brutal that she was forced to live in hiding.

“This is certainly the biggest recognition for our people,” Machado told CBS News, who was the only American medium to talk to her the following announcement on Friday.

Known as Venezuela “Iron Lady”, 58-year-old Machado led a huge political movement that has for decades challenged the authoritarian leader of the country.

She first caused former President Hugo Chavez, and now his successor, President Nicolas Maduro, whose challenged July 2024. A re -choice have not recognized the US, who declared instead Opposition leader Edmundo González, now exiledas a winner.

The last few months of Trump administration Trump was pressured About the Maduro regime, deploying of warships on the southern caribbean and conducting military blows to drugs, which he says originates from Venezuela.

Last week White House Informed Congress That they were now in “non-international armed conflict” with drug cartels that determined terrorist organizations.

Machado received the Nobel Peace Prize for “Flame Democracy Burns in the midst of a growing darkness,” Norwegian Nobelian Committee said in a statement.

A video recorded The emotional moment Machado accepted the award in the phone call of Kristian Berg Harpviken, director of the Norwegian Nobel Institute.

“Oh my God. I have no words. Thank you very much,” Machado said on the call. “I hope you understand that this is a movement, this is an achievement for the whole society. I am just one person; I certainly don’t deserve it. Oh my God.”

Machado’s defiance came at the price. She spent last year hiding after Maduro repeatedly threatened to arrest her.

CBS News was with Machado in Venezuela last year during the presidential election, when Maduro requested a victory despite the international departure of fraud.

Maduro escalated the suppression of disagreement, but that didn’t stop her.

“I think it gives me a lot of protection,” Machado said about how Nobel’s receiving may have changed her future and her safety situation. “But the most important thing is that, around the world, it emphasizes the importance of Venezuela’s struggle.”

Machado told CBS News that she spoke with President Trump on Friday and thanked him “from the bottom of the Venezuelan heart.”

She said she told Mr. Trump that she could “be sure that we are a society dedicated to freedom, that we will overcome.”