The Norwegian Nobel Committee has awarded the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize to Venezuelan leader María Corina Machado. The award recognizes her “tireless work for the democratic rights of the people of Venezuela and her struggle to achieve a just and peaceful transition from dictatorship to democracy.”
The committee emphasized that"María Corina Machado meets the three criteria established in Alfred Nobel's will for the selection of a Nobel Peace Prize laureate. She has united her country's opposition, has never wavered in her resistance to the militarization of Venezuelan society, and has firmly supported a peaceful transition to democracy."
He added that "she has shown that the tools of democracy are also tools of peace." She embodies the hope for a different future, one where citizens' fundamental rights are protected and their voices are heard.
The committee noted that “as a leader of the pro-democracy movement in Venezuela, Machado is one of the most extraordinary examples of civil courage in Latin America in recent times,” and recalled that he “has been a key and unifying figure in a political opposition that was previously deeply divided, an opposition that found common ground in demanding free elections and representative government.”
The statement recalled that “Venezuela evolved from a relatively democratic and prosperous country to a brutal and authoritarian state, with a humanitarian and economic crisis, systematic repression of the opposition, electoral fraud and legal persecution.”
Before the 2024 elections, Machado was a presidential candidate blocked by the regime and then supported another party's representative, Edmundo González Urrutia. Hundreds of thousands of volunteers participated as election observers to ensure the transparency of the elections, despite the risk of harassment, arrest, and torture.
The committee stressed that “the collective opposition’s efforts, both before and during the elections, were innovative and courageous, peaceful and democratic,” noting that although the regime refused to accept the election results, opposition leaders published vote counts from districts that demonstrated their victory by a clear margin.
He also stressed that"democracy is a prerequisite for lasting peace." However, we live in a world where democracy is in decline, where more and more authoritarian regimes defy norms and resort to violence.
He stated that “ the Venezuelan regime’s iron grip on power and its repression are not unique in the world, with press freedoms silenced, critics imprisoned and societies pushed towards militarization.”
The Norwegian Nobel Committee noted that throughout its history it has honored courageous individuals and organizations that stand up to repression and demonstrate that peaceful resistance can change the world, noting that Machado “was forced to live in hiding and, despite serious threats to her life, remained in the country, inspiring millions of people.”
Last year, Machado and González Urrutia were awarded the European Union's highest human rights prize, the Sakharov Prize. Before the announcement of the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize, there had been rife speculation that the prize would go to US President Donald Trump, fueled in part by the president himself and amplified by this week's approval of his plan for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.
Asked about the lobbying campaign surrounding Trump, Jorgen Watne Frydnes, chairman of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, replied: “I think this committee has seen all kinds of campaigns and media attention. We receive thousands and thousands of letters every year from people who want to tell us what, for them, constitutes peace.”
Frydnes added: “This committee meets in a room filled with portraits of all the laureates, and that room is filled with both courage and integrity. So we base our decision solely on the work and will of Alfred Nobel.”
Last year, the award went to Nihon Hidankyo, a grassroots movement of Japanese atomic bombing survivors who have been working for decades to maintain the taboo surrounding the use of nuclear weapons.
The Nobel Peace Prize is the only Nobel Prize awarded in Oslo, Norway. Four of the other prizes—medicine, physics, chemistry, and literature—were announced this week in the Swedish capital, Stockholm. The Nobel Prize in economics will be announced on Monday.
