María Corina Machado, a Venezuelan politician and democracy campaigner, has been named as the winner of the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize at a ceremony in Norway.
The winner was announced despite a months-long campaign by US president Donald Trump to win what is arguably the world’s most prestigious award.
Norwegian Nobel committee chairman Jørgen Watne Frydnes commended Ms Machado as a “brave and committed champion of peace” who “keeps the flame of democracy burning during a growing darkness”.
Mr Trump has been outspoken about his desire for a prize won by four of his predecessors – Barack Obama in 2009, Jimmy Carter in 2002, Woodrow Wilson in 1919 and Theodore Roosevelt in 1906.
READ MORE
All but Mr Carter won the award while in office, with Mr Obama named laureate less than eight months after taking office – the same position Mr Trump is in now.
But when the chairman of the Norwegian Nobel Committee read out the name of Ms Machado on Friday morning, there was little surprise that Mr Trump’s name was absent.
[ María Corina Machado: the ‘iron lady’ of Venezuela Opens in new window ]
The White House wasted little time denouncing the Norwegian Nobel Committee’s decision to award the Nobel peace prize to someone other than the US president.
“The Nobel Committee proved they place politics over peace,” wrote Steven Cheung, a Trump aide and the White House’s director of communications.
Trump will “continue making peace deals, ending wars, and saving lives”, he wrote. “He has the heart of a humanitarian, and there will never be anyone like him who can move mountains with the sheer force of his will.”
Despite speculation that he would be indignant at not receiving the award himself, it later emerged that Donald Trump called Ms Machado to congratulate her for the award, according to people familiar with the matter.
In a post on social media, Ms Machado dedicated the award to the US president and to the Venezuelan people. She praised Trump’s “decisive support.” He reposted her statement on his own account.
Insiders said the award followed a year-long, deliberative process, during which candidates’ strengths and weaknesses were debated by the five-strong committee.
Nominations for the prize had to reach the committee by January 31st. Committee members were also able to make nominations but they had to be made by the committee’s first meeting in February.
After that, the committee met roughly once a month. It is understood that decisions tend to be taken in August or in September, but it can also be later, as was the case this year.
The Nobel committee’s citation said Ms Machado, leader of the democracy movement in Venezuela, was “one of the most extraordinary examples of civilian courage in Latin America in recent times”.
“Ms Machado has been a key, unifying figure in a political opposition that was once deeply divided – an opposition that found common ground in the demand for free elections and representative government,” it said.
“This is precisely what lies at the heart of democracy: our shared willingness to defend the principles of popular rule, even though we disagree. At a time when democracy is under threat, it is more important than ever to defend this common ground.”
A conservative former member of the national assembly, Ms Machado is credited with corralling Venezuela’s fractious opposition behind her and captivating a broad swath of the electorate with a promise of sweeping government change.
Even former critics say her movement is the country’s most important since the one built by Hugo Chávez, founder of Venezuela’s 25-year-old socialist project.
Under its current president, Nicolás Maduro’s, Venezuela has witnessed an extraordinary economic contraction – the largest outside of war in at least 50 years, economists say. While the economy has improved slightly in recent years, millions of people still cannot afford enough food or critical medications.
– Reuters and Bloomberg
