Co-Founder & Chairman, SUMATE
A co-founder of SUMATE, Venezuela’s leading watchdog for electoral transparency, Machado dedicates herself to defending democratic institutions and civil liberties in Venezuela. Using the right granted by the new Bolivarian Constitution to call popular referendums, SUMATE successfully organized national petition-signing drives that reached more than a quarter of all registered voters in Venezuela. Prior to co-founding SUMATE, Machado founded and directed the Opportunitas Foundation, an NGO that provides support to children and youth from low-income families. She also founded Fundación Atenea, an NGO which managed a children’s safe house.
