Yale World Fellow Maria Corina Machado was elected to the National Assembly of Venezuela on September 27, 2010. 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.
In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized.* (*Subject to certain rules and regulations.)
