In the days leading up to the Nobel Peace Prize announcement, all eyes were on Trump, who has repeatedly demanded the award.
However, crushing his long-standing hopes, US President Donald Trump did not win the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize.
The Norwegian Nobel Committee has awarded the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize to María Corina Machado, a long-standing leader of Venezuela’s pro-democracy movement.
Here are the three key reasons why Machado was honoured with the Nobel Peace Prize Award:
- Unwavering civilian courage
According to the Norwegian Nobel Committee’s statement, for over two decades, Machado has stood as a fearless opponent of Venezuela’s increasingly authoritarian regime.
In a nation where dissent is often met with surveillance, arrest, or exile, Machado has remained in the country, despite threats to her life and freedom.
From her early activism as the founder of ‘Súmate,’ a civil organisation advocating for electoral transparency, to her recent leadership of the opposition coalition, she has consistently chosen ballots over bullets.
The Nobel Committee praised her as “one of the most extraordinary examples of civilian courage in Latin America in recent times.”
While announcing the name of Maria Corina Machado, Jørgen Watne Frydnes, the chair of the Norwegian Nobel Committee said:
“Ahead of the election of 2024, Ms Machado was the opposition’s presidential candidate, but the regime blocked her candidacy. She then backed the representative of a different party, Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia, in the election. Hundreds of thousands of volunteers mobilised across political divides. They were trained as election observers to ensure a transparent and fair election. Despite the risk of harassment, arrest and torture, citizens across the country held watch over the polling stations.”
- A unifying force of the country
At a time when Venezuela’s opposition was fragmented and weakened, Machado emerged as a key unifying figure. Her 2024 presidential candidacy brought out a shared demand for free and fair elections.
Even after being barred from the ballot by the Maduro regime, Machado demonstrated extraordinary political maturity by throwing her support behind Edmundo González Urrutia, the consensus candidate.
This move helped to forge a broad coalition across political and ideological lines. The Committee commended her for “bringing her country’s opposition together,” an achievement that was instrumental in the mobilisation of hundreds of thousands of citizens in the 2024 elections, even as the regime refused to accept the results.
- Peaceful resistance
As per the statement, Machado’s lifelong commitment to peaceful resistance was central to the committee’s decision. Rather than resorting to violence, she helped orchestrate a nationwide movement of volunteer election observers during the disputed 2024 vote, ensuring the collection and preservation of vote tallies in the face of regime interference.
These efforts were critical in revealing that the opposition had in fact won by a clear margin.
The Committee emphassed that “the tools of democracy are also the tools of peace” and added that Machado’s determination to achieve a peaceful transition to democracy as a model in an increasingly authoritarian world.
In choosing her, the Nobel Committee reaffirmed its support for peaceful democratic movements in countries where freedoms are under siege.
Read the full statement here