Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado has been awarded the prestigious Nobel Peace Prize, a recognition that shines a global spotlight on her unwavering dedication to democratic rights and a peaceful transition from authoritarian rule in Venezuela. Machado, who has been living in hiding since last year due to her political activities, built a formidable social movement that successfully galvanized the country’s fractured opposition ahead of the 2024 elections.
Her emergence challenged years of political apathy under President Nicolás Maduro’s government, which had suppressed protests and arrested dissidents, leading to a massive exodus of Venezuelans. Despite being barred from running herself, Machado was the driving force behind the main opposition candidate, Edmundo González. While independent observers from the Carter Center confirmed González had won decisively, Maduro claimed victory in what was widely seen as a rigged election. Shortly thereafter, Venezuela’s electoral council, packed with Maduro loyalists, declared an overwhelming victory for his party in subsequent elections, a process critics denounced as a performance without independent monitoring.
David Scheffer, an international law scholar at Arizona State University, lauded the Nobel Committee’s choice, stating that they had “elevated a courageous hero of peacemaking — someone who works among her own people to protect them against repression and atrocity crimes in order to shape a more peaceful and democratic world.” The Norwegian Nobel Committee itself specifically praised Machado for her “tireless work promoting democratic rights for the people of Venezuela and for her struggle to achieve a just and peaceful transition from dictatorship to democracy.”
This latest award follows last year’s Nobel Peace Prize, which honored Nihon Hidankyo, a Japanese group representing atomic bomb survivors who have tirelessly campaigned for nuclear disarmament. In 2023, the prize went to Narges Mohammadi, Iran’s most prominent human rights activist.
The Nobel committee’s selection process remains highly secretive, accepting nominations from thousands of potential nominators. This year, 338 candidates—244 individuals and 94 organizations—were considered, with the ultimate decision made in secret by a five-person committee appointed by the Norwegian Parliament.
Adding a controversial subplot to the awards, former President Donald Trump has for years openly expressed his desire to win the Nobel Peace Prize, publicly and privately complaining about not receiving the honor. Several figures, including leaders from Israel, Pakistan, and Cambodia, reportedly nominated him. However, this year’s award was intended to recognize achievements in 2024, prior to Trump’s potential return to the White House. Jorgen Watne Frydnes, the chair of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, clarified that while they receive many letters supporting specific candidates, the only guiding principles for selection are those laid out by Alfred Nobel himself. Trump’s domestic policies, including crackdowns on dissent and attacks on academic freedom, alongside foreign policy decisions seen as siding with aggressors, have raised questions about his alignment with the prize’s criteria for “sustainable and lasting peace.”
Tensions between the United States and Venezuela have also recently escalated, with President Trump’s administration launching military strikes against alleged drug smugglers in the Caribbean and some aides advocating for the ousting of President Nicolás Maduro.
The announcement of Machado’s win concludes a week of Nobel Prizes in the arts and sciences, celebrating achievements across various fields globally.