 "Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado gestures at a protest ahead of the Friday inauguration of President Nicolas Maduro for his third term, in Caracas, Venezuela, on January 9, 2025. Reuters File")
Hours after she was was awarded the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize, Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado on Friday said the honor was a recognition of the “struggle of all Venezuelans” and dedicated it both to the “suffering people” of her country and to US President Donald Trump for his support of Venezuela’s pro-democracy movement.
“This recognition of the struggle of all Venezuelans is a boost to conclude our task: to conquer Freedom. We are on the threshold of victory and today, more than ever, we count on President Trump, the people of the United States, the peoples of Latin America, and the democratic nations of the world as our principal allies to achieve Freedom and democracy,” Machado said in a post on X.
She added, “I dedicate this prize to the suffering people of Venezuela and to President Trump for his decisive support of our cause!”
The Nobel Committee awarded Machado the Peace Prize 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.”
Machado, a 58-year-old industrial engineer who lives in hiding, was blocked in 2024 by Venezuela’s courts from running for president and thus challenging President Nicolas Maduro, who has been in power since 2013.
Trump is a fierce critic of Maduro and the US is one of a number of countries that does not recognise his government’s legitimacy.
The White House had earlier criticised the Norwegian Nobel Committee’s decision to focus on Venezuela just days after Trump announced a breakthrough in talks to halt the fighting in Gaza between Israel and Hamas.
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More ShortsTaking to X, White House Director of Communications Steven Cheung said, “President Trump will continue making peace deals, ending wars, and saving lives. 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. The Nobel Committee proved they place politics over peace.”
Maduro, whose 12 years in office have been marked by deep economic and social crisis, was sworn in for a third term in January this year, despite a six-month-long election dispute, international calls for him to stand aside and an increase in the US reward offered for his capture.
“When authoritarians seize power, it is crucial to recognise courageous defenders of freedom who rise and resist,” the Nobel Committee said in its citation.
Marco Rubio, now Trump’s secretary of state, nominated Machado for the Peace Prize together with a group of US members of Congress in August 2024, when he was still a senator.
Hours before the announcement, President Trump lashed out at former President Barack Obama, criticising his 2009 Nobel win and accusing him of “destroying our country.”
“He got it for doing nothing,” Trump said. “Obama got a prize—he didn’t even know what for. He got elected, and they gave it to him for doing absolutely nothing but destroying our country.”
Obama was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2009, only eight months into his first term. At the time, the committee cited “his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples.”
With inputs from agencies