Venezuelan Opposition Leader Maria Corina Machado Awarded 2025 Nobel Peace Prize

The Norwegian Nobel Committee announced on Friday that Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado has been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for championing democratic freedoms in Venezuela and her persistent efforts to facilitate a democratic transition in the nation.

“When authoritarians seize power, it is crucial to recognise courageous defenders of freedom who rise and resist,” the committee stated in its official citation.

The committee’s decision to spotlight Venezuela came during a year marked by U.S. President Donald Trump’s frequent public declarations that he merits the Nobel Peace Prize.

Prior to the announcement, Nobel Prize analysts had predicted Trump would not receive the honour, noting his actions undermine the international framework that the Nobel committee values.

Valued at 11 million Swedish crowns—approximately $1.2 million—the Nobel Peace Prize will be awarded in Oslo on December 10, marking the anniversary of Swedish industrialist Alfred Nobel‘s death, who established the awards in his 1895 will.

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According to an official statement posted on the committee’s website, Maria is being honored “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.”

“As the leader of the democracy movement in Venezuela, Maria Corina Machado is one of the most extraordinary examples of civilian courage in Latin America in recent times,” the statement continued.

“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.

“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.”