The selection of María Corina Machado, leader of the Venezuelan far-right, to receive the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize deserves widespread criticism and condemnation from lovers of genuine democracy and peace worldwide. Awarding the prize to a notorious coup plotter and propagandist of foreign intervention against her own country is a clear sign of support for destabilizing, divisive, and interventionist forces, a tool of political, ideological, and psychological struggle to legitimize and pave the way for political and military intervention in Venezuela.
María Corina Machado is known for her extremist stance against the Bolivarian Revolution, the democratic, popular, national sovereignty and Latin American integration achievements promoted by the governments of the late Comandante Hugo Chávez and the legitimate and constitutional president Nicolás Maduro.
She was one of the signatories of the Carmona Decree, which in 2002, during the coup d'état against President Hugo Chávez, dissolved the National Assembly and suspended the Constitution, a move that placed her image at odds with the country's official narrative of the fight for democracy. Furthermore, her political activity in all subsequent periods has been marked by positions and actions typical of the far right, both inside and outside Venezuela, revealing her antagonism toward the values of peace, democracy, and human rights.
Corina Machado's award comes amid growing threats to the country's territorial integrity and national sovereignty. Venezuela has been the target of a severe unilateral economic blockade imposed by the United States for decades, through sanctions that, in addition to directly harming the population, have been used as a political tool to undermine Maduro's government.
Corina Machado's award clearly aims to pave the ideological and psychological groundwork for intervention. The implications of this award are profound, as by receiving it, Machado will attempt to legitimize herself in the eyes of public opinion and the international community, garnering support for external actions, diplomatic pressure, acts of interference, or even direct military intervention.
Since the Bolivarian Revolution became victorious with the election of Hugo Chávez in 1998, Venezuela has faced constant attempts at destabilization, ranging from the failed coup of 2002, sabotage of elections, questioning of election results, provocation of riots that led to the destruction of public property and the deaths of innocent people, explicit support for figures like Juan Guaidó, who proclaimed himself president in 2019, to economic sanctions and support from external powers for attempts at “regime change”.
María Corina Machado's nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize has the potential to be used as a trigger to justify more aggressive actions against the Venezuelan government. The recognition of figures like Corina Machado is a coordinated move to reinforce the narrative that democracy and stability would only be possible with the overthrow of the current government.
The Nobel Peace Prize has always carried immense symbolic weight in the international political arena. Recognition of figures who strive for peace and stability globally can be a powerful tool for political mobilization toward peace and the progress of humanity, but when awarded to figures despicable for their explicit engagement in acts of national treason and treason against humanity, it can be used to attempt to build consensus around abhorrent causes. The award can be seen as a kind of indirect endorsement of a movement advocating the"restoration of democracy" in Venezuela through external intervention and an internal movement that provokes instability and fragmentation.
The award could be used as an instrument of ideological manipulation, seeking to legitimize a geopolitical agenda that favors a “regime change” operation, hostility, and distrust in international relations.
Venezuela is under military siege and the threat of war by the United States, under false accusations, as evidenced by the presence of warships near its coast. International support for extremist figures like Corina Machado, who has a history of coup-mongering and anti-democratic actions, could create the necessary environment for external forces to consider Venezuela a legitimate target for intervention, whether through direct military action or by supporting internal unrest.
In this sense, Machado's award is not a recognition of merit, but rather a signal of the beginning of a new phase of tension in Venezuela, with the risk of a violent escalation. The award to a figure with a history of betrayals of the nation, with extreme acts against legitimately elected democratic governments, and who advocates for foreign intervention against his own country, cannot be understood as a personal distinction, as it carries the risk of being used as a tool to justify criminal actions against national sovereignty.
