The decision of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, composed of five members appointed by the Parliament: Machado is a woman who keeps the flame of democracy alive in the midst of a growing darkness

Marina Corina Machado, Venezuela's Iron Lady, the Iron Lady who has been challenging Nicolás Maduro's regime for years, has won the Nobel Peace Prize, much coveted by Donald Trump. This is an important signal for the opposition in the South American country, which has hundreds of political prisoners and many disappeared. The prize goes to a courageous and committed champion of peace, the Norwegian Nobel Institute announced during the ceremony in Oslo, Norway. A woman who keeps the flame of democracy burning amid growing darkness.

In its citation, the Nobel Committee added that Machado will receive the Peace Prize for his tireless work in promoting the democratic rights of the Venezuelan people and for his struggle to achieve a just and peaceful transition from dictatorship to democracy.

I'm in shock, said the newly awarded Machado after learning of the prize. What is this, a joke? I can't believe it. We will win,' said Machado, awakened in the middle of the night in Caracas. I am very grateful on behalf of the Venezuelan people. We are not there yet, she told Nobel Committee Secretary Kristian Berg Harpviken. We are working very hard to achieve it, but I am sure we will win, adding that she, individually, does not deserve the prize. She reiterated this point on Twitter, where she wrote: This is an immense recognition of the struggle of all Venezuelans and an impetus to achieve our goal: to win Freedom. We are on the threshold

of victory, and today more than ever we have President Trump, the people of the United States, the peoples of Latin America, and the democratic nations of the world as our main allies in achieving freedom and democracy. Venezuela will be free!.

And again, in the official statement: We Venezuelans have suffered 26 years of violence and humiliation, due to a paranoid tyranny, which has deployed the machinery of brutal and systematic oppression: detentions, torture, forced disappearances, extrajudicial executions. We have built a formidable civic movement: and today we are very close to achieving our goal. To every Venezuelan, I say: this award is yours. It is recognition of what we have achieved together, and a reminder of what we still lack. Let us move forward with greater strength, confidence, and unshakeable faith: we are in God's hands, until the end.

Maria Corina Machado, a 58-year-old industrial engineer, lives in hiding in Venezuela, illegally in her own country because she has always refused exile, which has been offered to her several times by the Maduro government itself. She has made countless challenges to the regime, such as when last January, after months of public absence, she appeared among the crowd at the protest called the day before Maduro's third, highly contested, inauguration as president, following elections widely considered rigged. An armed group kidnapped her for a few hours, then she reappeared , more determined than before.

Maduro knows that making her disappear, as has happened to many other opposition politicians, would have turned her into an even more inconvenient martyr.

I'm fine, I'm safe, I left a wonderful demonstration. And Venezuela will be free, she said then. Corriere interviewed her a few months later, in early June, and her determination to fight Maduro's government was intact. Only at one point during the interview did her voice choke: I haven't seen my three children for years.

As leader of the Vente Venezuela party, Machado embodies a liberal political perspective critical of the socialist tendencies that have dominated Venezuela since 1999.

The judiciary, dominated by judges close to the government, barred her from running in last year's presidential election, even though she had won more than 90% of the vote in the opposition primaries.

In August 2024, the National Electoral Council then declared Maduro the winner of the presidential election with 52 percent of the vote but without publishing any proof of the results, denouncing an act of hacking by external enemies. The opposition, however, almost immediately published online the tally sheets from 85 percent of the electronic voting machines, demonstrating that diplomat Edmundo González, the opposition bloc's candidate and Machado's right-hand man, had defeated Maduro by a margin of more than two to one.

Maduro's proclamation sparked massive protests across the country in August, which were repressed with a toll of at least 28 deaths, 200 injuries, and 2,400 arrests for terrorism. And the repression has not stopped. The president-master and the government, now almost completely dominated by the military, are not relinquishing their grip on power. At least 900 political prisoners are languishing in prisons, approximately 80 of whom are foreign nationals, often used as bargaining chips or political blackmail by the regime. Among them is the Italian Alberto Trentini.

Alberto Trentini, the respectable Italian who needs to be brought home now

The controversy surrounding Trump

This year, 338 nominations were submitted, among which Donald Trump stands out, having been the target of a veritable lobbying campaign in recent weeks. The US president had repeatedly reiterated his ambition for the prize and considered it deserved for his efforts in the Middle East and in resolving international conflicts. In the long history of this prize, the response was, we have seen various types of campaigns and attention around us. But the Committee sits in a room lined with portraits of those who preceded us, and has made choices in the name of courage and integrity. We have acted on this basis. Our decision is based solely on the work and will of Alfred Nobel.

THE NOBEL PRIZE

Each Nobel Prize winner receives a gold medal, a diploma, and a check for 11 million Swedish kronor, equivalent to approximately one million euros.  

This prize differs from the others because the choice is made not by a Swedish institution, but by the Norwegian Nobel Committee. 

Previous winners

In 2024, the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to the Japanese organization Nihon Hidankyo, founded by survivors of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The previous year, the prize went to Iranian activist Narges Mohammadi, for her fight against the oppression of women in Iran and for the promotion of human rights.

Two organizations have received the award on more than one occasion: the International Committee of the Red Cross in 1917, 1944, and 1963, for its humanitarian work during wars; and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in 1954 and 1981, for its work on behalf of refugees.