U.S. President Donald Trump addressed the Nobel Peace Prize awarded to María Corina Machado on Friday afternoon. He said that the leader herself had called him to inform him that she had received the award in his honor.
"The person who received the Nobel Prize today called me and said, 'I'm accepting this in your honor because you really deserved it.' It was a very kind thing for him to do," Trump said at a press conference at the White House.
The president said, laughing, that he did not ask for the award:"I didn't say 'give it to me.'"
🇺🇸 | NOW: Trump on the Nobel Peace Prize:
— Alerta News 24 (@AlertaNews24) October 10, 2025
"The person who actually won the Nobel Prize called me and said she was accepting it in my honor.
I didn't say, 'Give it to me,' then. I think she might have; she was very kind.
I've been helping her the whole time, in… pic.twitter.com/XiBIjbMQak
"She was very kind. And I've been helping her the whole time. She needs a lot of help. In Venezuela, there is a disaster," he noted.
Trump also reiterated his claim that he has successfully ended eight wars, including the one in Gaza, after Israel and Hamas agreed to a ceasefire and the release of hostages under his proposed peace plan just one day before the Norwegian Nobel Committee announced this year's winner.
"I'm happy because I saved millions of lives, many millions of lives," he declared.
Machado, who received the award for"his tireless work promoting democratic rights for the people of Venezuela," dedicated the prize in an English-language message published in X: "I dedicate this award to the long-suffering people of Venezuela and to President Trump for his determined support of our cause!"
The president often claims to have resolved, in addition to the Gaza war, seven other conflicts: Cambodia-Thailand, Kosovo-Serbia, Democratic Republic of Congo-Rwanda, Pakistan-India, Israel-Iran, Egypt-Ethiopia, and Armenia-Azerbaijan.
Trump had been hoping to win the Nobel Peace Prize, especially since it was won in 2009 by then-President Barack Obama, someone the Republican believed was unworthy of the award.
"President Trump will continue to advance peace agreements, end wars, and save lives," said Steven Cheung, White House Communications Director.
Machado, for his part, dedicated the award to the Venezuelan people and stated that the greatest tribute to Alfred Nobel will be to guarantee the"transition to democracy" in Venezuela, where anti-Chavez supporters maintain that there was"fraud" in the July 2024 presidential elections, in which the electoral body declared Nicolás Maduro's victory.
"The Venezuelan people have received this recognition from the Norwegian Nobel Committee with immense emotion and renewed hope," the former congresswoman said in a message posted in English on the social network X.
Machado maintained that the greatest tribute to Alfred Nobel would also be to achieve"freedom" for Venezuela and thus "achieve peace."
The Norwegian Nobel Committee, based in Oslo, announced this Friday that Machado is the winner of the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize"for her tireless work promoting the democratic rights of the Venezuelan people and for her struggle to achieve a just and peaceful transition from dictatorship to democracy."
Machado, who has remained in hiding since his last public appearance at a protest in Caracas on January 9, accepted the award with"deep gratitude" "on behalf of the people of Venezuela" and also dedicated it to US President Donald Trump.
The opposition leader warned in a statement that Venezuelans have"suffered 26 years of violence and humiliation at the hands of a tyranny obsessed with subjugating citizens and breaking the soul of the nation."
In this regard, he wrote that"the machinery of oppression has been brutal and systematic, characterized by detentions, torture, forced disappearances, and extrajudicial executions that—he asserted—constitute crimes against humanity and state terrorism."
This award, according to the opposition leader, is"a unique boost that injects energy and confidence into Venezuelans, both inside and outside the country, to complete" her task, which, as she stated this Friday, is to"conquer freedom" for the nation.
The governments of Guatemala, Costa Rica, Paraguay, Ecuador, the Dominican Republic, Uruguay, Argentina, Panama, France, Colombia, Germany, and Portugal, as well as UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and former U.S. President Barack Obama, have congratulated Machado on receiving the Nobel Prize.
