The Norwegian Nobel Committee announced Friday that Venezuela’s opposition leader and democracy activist Maria Corina Machado receives the Nobel Peace Prize. Machado,
who has spent the past year in hiding, was honored for her relentless effort promoting democratic rights in Venezuela and striving for a peaceful transition from dictatorship to democracy.
The committee chair described her as a unifying figure in a brutal authoritarian state, noting she has inspired millions despite death threats.
Machado, an engineer turned politician, entered the arena in 2002 leading Sumate, a group that pushed for a referendum to recall Hugo Chávez. Barred from running in Venezuela’s 2025 presidential election, she backed Edmundo González Urrutia as a stand‑in, campaigning alongside him and drawing rock‑star crowds dressed in white. Her activism has earned her the EU’s Sakharov Prize and the Council of Europe’s Václav Havel Prize.
The award comes amid heightened US military pressure on the Maduro regime, which Machado and González Urrutia endorse as a necessary step toward restoring popular sovereignty. Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump publicly voiced his desire for the prize, a hope the committee dismissed as inconsistent with Alfred Nobel’s vision. The prize includes a gold medal, diploma and a $1.2 million award, to be presented in Oslo on December 10.
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