Maria Corina Machado wins Nobel Peace Prize

Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado has been awarded this Friday, October 10, with the Nobel Peace Prize 2025, “for her tireless work in promoting the democratic rights of the Venezuelan people and her struggle to achieve a just and peaceful transition from dictatorship to democracy”, a mission she promised to continue until achieving a “free Venezuela”.

Machado was described by the committee chairman, Jørgen Watne Frydnes, as “a courageous and committed advocate for peace” and “one of the most extraordinary examples of civil courage in Latin America”.

María Corina Machado, Nobel Peace Prize 2025

“Oh my god… I have no words.”

Listen to the emotional moment this year’s laureate Maria Corina Machado finds out she has been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

Kristian Berg Harpviken, Director of the Norwegian Nobel Institute, shared the news with her directly before it was… pic.twitter.com/OCUpNz752k

– The Nobel Prize (@NobelPrize) October 10, 2025

The Nobel Committee highlighted his unifying role of the opposition in its demand for “free elections and a representative government” for Venezuela, which “has gone from a relatively democratic and prosperous country to an authoritarian and brutal state that today suffers a humanitarian and economic crisis.”

The ruling also highlighted the “innovative” and “courageous” efforts of the Venezuelan opposition in the 2024 presidential elections, in which Machado’s candidacy was blocked by the Venezuelan judiciary, and that she supported Edmundo González Urrutia, from another party.

“Machado has been forced to live in hiding. Despite serious threats against her life, she has remained in the country, a decision that has inspired millions of people,” Frydnes stressed.

María Corina Machado surprised and fighting

This immense recognition of the struggle of all Venezuelans is an impulse to conclude our task: to conquer Freedom.

We are on the threshold of victory and today more than ever we are counting on President Trump, the people of the United States, the peoples of America…

– María Corina Machado (@MariaCorinaYA) October 10, 2025

In a telephone conversation minutes before the announcement of the award, Machado described the prize as an “achievement” for society as a whole and said he did not deserve the distinction.

“I feel honored, overwhelmed and very grateful on behalf of the people of Venezuela,” said the Venezuelan politician, still half asleep, who said she was “at a loss for words.”

Machado stressed that she and the entire opposition are working “hard” for political change in Venezuela and said she is “sure” that “we will win”.

Hours later, the Venezuelan opposition leader wrote on the social network X that “this immense recognition to the struggle of all Venezuelans is an impulse to conclude our task: to conquer freedom”.

“We are on the threshold of victory and today more than ever we count on (U.S.) President (Donald) Trump, the people of the United States, the peoples of Latin America and the democratic nations of the world as our main allies to achieve freedom and democracy,” he added, to promise that “Venezuela will be free.”

Opposition celebrates Machado’s award

Several Venezuelan opposition figures celebrated the Nobel Prize as a recognition of the struggle for democracy.

“Our dear María Corina Machado, awarded the Nobel Peace Prize 2025! The first Venezuelan Nobel! Congratulations, Venezuela will be free!”, wrote González Urrutia, exiled in Madrid, in his account on X.

Antonio Ledezma, former mayor of Caracas and also exiled in Spain, said in X in reference to Machado that “her courage, coherence and love for Venezuela are an example for the world”.

From the United States, Leopoldo López, imprisoned in 2018 after protests against the Chavista government, assured that the award is a recognition of “a people determined for change.”

The UN Human Rights Office also joined in the congratulations and stressed that the recognition “reflects the clear aspirations of the people of Venezuela for free and fair elections, civil rights and respect for the rule of law”.

An unexpected election in a year marked by Trump

Reporter: Why didn’t Trump win the Nobel Peace Prize?

Nobel committee chair: We only give the award to people of courage and integrity. pic.twitter.com/MDqOItA9Uu

– Adam Schwarz (@AdamJSchwarz) October 10, 2025

Machado, the seventh Latin American to win the Nobel Peace Prize, was not in the previous pools for the award, which pointed to the International Criminal Court (ICC), the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and the Sudan Emergency Response Rooms (ERR).

However, during the early hours of Friday morning, his name skyrocketed in the bookmakers, according to Norwegian media, although the Nobel Committee denied that there could have been a leak.

Although he was not among the favorites, U. S. President Donald Trump had grabbed the spotlight for his repeated words about his merits for having “solved” seven conflicts.

Trump advisor and White House Communications Director Steven Cheung accused the Nobel Committee of putting “politics before peace” for not awarding it to the president.

“In the long history of the Nobel Peace Prize I think this committee has seen all kinds of campaigning and media attention (…). This committee sits in a room full of portraits of past laureates and that room is full of courage and integrity. We only base our decisions on Alfred Nobel’s will,” Frydnes said of Trump’s pressures and hypothetical reaction.

Support from the main Norwegian parties

Not surprisingly, the election of María Corina Machado by the Nobel Committee – made up of five people elected by the Norwegian Parliament every six years – received the backing of the main political parties.

“This award highlights the importance of the fight for fundamental rights in a world where democratic values are under pressure,” said Labor Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre.

Conservative Ine Eriksen Søreide, chairwoman of the Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee, highlighted Machado’s “enormous courage” “against an increasingly repressive regime”, while the far-right Progress Party, the second parliamentary force, described the award as “necessary”.

Machado’s election was criticized, however, by two external allies of the Labor government, the Socialist Left Party (fourth force) and Rojo (sixth).