RNS: Venezuelan opposition icon Maria Corina Machado has been awarded the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize for her unrelenting fight to restore democracy and safeguard human rights in Venezuela, ending weeks of speculation — and dashing hopes that former US President Donald Trump might clinch the honor this year.
In its official announcement, the Norwegian Nobel Committee hailed Machado as “a key, unifying figure in a once-divided 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 when we disagree,” the statement added.
BREAKING: Venezuela’s Maria Corina Machado wins the Nobel Peace Prize for 2025 https://t.co/CKxviGbG0j pic.twitter.com/CnuxAtngJs
— Reuters (@Reuters) October 10, 2025
A Relentless Voice for Democracy
Machado, a former lawmaker and founder of Súmate, an NGO devoted to promoting democratic participation, has spent over two decades challenging Venezuela’s authoritarian regime. Despite facing harassment, intimidation, and a ban on her 2024 presidential candidacy, she refused to abandon her cause.
After being disqualified from the race, Machado threw her support behind opposition candidate Edmundo González Urrutia, uniting fractured political forces under a single banner for free elections.
⚡️BREAKING:
Maria Corina Machado wins the Nobel Peace Prize 2025.
U.S President Donald Trump did not win the Nobel Peace Prize. pic.twitter.com/yFHmmPs2DM
— Javed Rashid Khan (@javedrashidINC) October 10, 2025
Defiance Amid Danger
In the past year, Machado has reportedly lived in hiding due to threats against her life, yet continues to remain in Venezuela. Her courage, the Nobel Committee noted, “has inspired millions of people to believe in the power of peaceful resistance and democratic renewal.”
Her recognition marks a powerful global endorsement of Venezuela’s pro-democracy struggle, even as the Maduro regime tightens its grip on power.
Meanwhile, Trump — who had earlier been floated as a contender for the Peace Prize by some of his supporters — was absent from this year’s list of laureates.
The award, observers say, sends a clear message about the international community’s support for nonviolent democratic movements over authoritarian populism.
