Nobel Peace Prize 2025: Venezuelan Activist María Corina Machado Beats Trump to Coveted Honour

Norwegian Nobel Committee honours opposition leader for her peaceful struggle to restore democracy in Venezuela as former U.S. President Donald Trump misses out on the prestigious award.

Venezuelan opposition leader and pro-democracy activist María Corina Machado has been awarded the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize, the Norwegian Nobel Committee announced on Friday, October 10, 2025.

Machado was recognised “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,” said committee chair Jørgen Watne Frydnes during the official announcement in Oslo.

The Nobel Committee described the 57-year-old activist as “one of the most extraordinary examples of civilian courage in Latin America in recent times,” noting her two-decade-long campaign for democratic reform and free elections in her crisis-stricken country.

“Despite serious threats against her life, she has remained in Venezuela, a choice that has inspired millions,” the committee said.

A Symbol of Resistance and Hope: Machado, founder of the civil group Súmate, has been a central figure in Venezuela’s democratic movement since the early 2000s. She has long been a critic of the country’s authoritarian regime and has endured political persecution, surveillance, and repeated attempts to silence her voice.

As the opposition’s 2024 presidential candidate, she was barred from running by the ruling government but chose to rally behind a unity candidate, Edmundo González Urrutia. Her leadership helped unite previously fragmented opposition groups, mobilising thousands of volunteers to safeguard election integrity across the country.

Although official results were disputed by the regime, independent observers and citizen monitors reported a clear opposition victory, which the government refused to recognise.

The committee praised her “unwavering faith in ballots over bullets” and her commitment to a peaceful transition of power in a country where political dissent is often met with violence and imprisonment.

Trump Misses Out on Nobel Ambition: U.S. President Donald Trump, who had openly expressed his wish to receive the Nobel Peace Prize, once again missed out.

Since returning to the White House for a second term in January 2025, Trump has repeatedly claimed credit for resolving “numerous global conflicts,” though analysts and Nobel observers in Oslo maintained that his foreign-policy record did not align with the values of peace and multilateralism outlined in Alfred Nobel’s 1895 will.

“His ‘America First’ policies run contrary to the cooperative ideals the Peace Prize represents,” one Nobel analyst noted before the announcement.

A Prize Rooted in Peace and Perseverance: The Nobel Committee’s decision reflects growing global concern about democratic decline and authoritarianism.

“Democracy is a precondition for lasting peace,” Frydnes said. “Machado embodies that conviction — that freedom must never be taken for granted but must always be defended with courage and words, not weapons.”

Last year’s Peace Prize went to Nihon Hidankyo, a Japanese organisation representing survivors of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

This year’s honour comes with a gold medal, diploma, and a monetary award of $1.2 million, to be presented at a formal ceremony in Oslo on December 10, the anniversary of Alfred Nobel’s death.

Global Recognition: World leaders, human-rights organisations, and Venezuelans in exile have hailed the announcement as a historic moment for Latin America.

The award not only acknowledges Machado’s courage but also symbolises international solidarity with millions of Venezuelans enduring economic hardship and repression.

Her win, observers say, sends a powerful message to authoritarian regimes worldwide — that peaceful resistance remains one of the most potent forces for change.

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