Bio: Maria Machado: Ancestors, Education and Early Career

Maria Corina Machado Parisca was born on October 7, 1967 in Caracas. Her mother was Corina Parisca Perez, who was a psychologist and national champion tennis player who represented Venezuela in the 1959 Pan American Games. Her father was Henrique Machado Zuloaga who had attended the London School of Economics and was the President of Sivensa, one of Venezuela’s largest steel companies.

Maria Machado comes from one of Venezuela’s wealthiest families, the Machado Zuloagas. [1] They were a Basque family who arrived in Venezuela in the 1700s. They were large landowners and used enslaved people to grow crops.[2] One of her early ancestors was the 3rd Marquis of Toro, Sebastian Jose Antonio Rodriguez, who was a Mayor of Caracas during Spanish colonial rule.

Much of the family’s wealth came from operating Caracas’ electricity grid through a Company (La Electricidad de Caracas) founded by Ricardo Zuloaga Tovar in 1895.[3] The Family was one of the largest shareholders of Sivensa (steel), a bank (Mercantil Banco), VIASA (the national airline) and an investment firm (Inversiones Tacoa). Her uncle Oscar Machado Zuloaga headed the Fedecamaras business lobby.

As a young girl, Machado attended a Catholic Girls School (Acadamia Merci) in Caracas. In 1982-83 she attended the all-girls boarding school Dana Hall in Wellesley, Massachusetts. In Venezuela, Machado earned a degree in industrial engineering from the Andres Bello Catholic University in 1989 (She was first in her Class) and a masters’ degree in finance from the Institute of Advanced Studies in Administration.  In 2009, she participated in the World Fellows Program at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut.

Machado had a short career in the automotive industry and the family steel business (Sivensa).

In 1992, Machado-a mother of three children-co-founded with her mother the Atenea Foundation, for the care of abandoned children.  Between 1988 and 2002, she served as chair of the Opportunitas Foundation for children in households in poverty. In January 2002, Machado was a co-founder of the NGO Sumate (Join Up), a volunteer group to promote elections.[1]



     

1.Correo del Orinoco International, Opposition Candidate Maria Corina Machado Pledges “Popular Capitalism,” Venezuelanalysis, December 26, 2011

2. Koerner, Lucas, The Venezuelan Opposition’s “Birther” Problem, Venezuelanalysis, October 27, 2016.

3. Con El Mazo Dando, The Promoters of Poverty! Learn about the Lineage of Maria Corina Machado, June 6, 2024.

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