Venezuelan Opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, who built a powerful social movement and has been living in hiding since last year, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday.
The Norwegian Nobel Committee praised “her tireless work promoting democratic rights for the people of Venezuela and for her struggle to achieve a just and peaceful transition from dictatorship to democracy”.
US President Donald Trump was passed over for the Peace Nobel despite jockeying from his fellow Republicans, various world leaders and — most vocally — himself.
The White House responded bitterly, with communications director Steven Cheung saying members of “the Nobel Committee proved they place politics over peace” because they didn’t recognise Trump.
“President Trump will continue making peace deals, ending wars, and saving lives. He has the heart of a humanitarian, and there will never be anyone like him who can move mountains with the sheer force of his will,” Cheung wrote on social media. “The Nobel Committee proved they place politics over peace.”
Machado emerged from Venezuela’s political sidelines and corralled the country’s fractious Opposition behind her before the 2024 elections. That followed years of political apathy in Venezuela, where the government of President Nicolas Maduro crushed protests and arrested dissidents, helping to spur an enormous exodus from the country.
After being banned from running, she backed an Opposition candidate against Maduro in the presidential race. Maduro won what was widely regarded as a rigged election, and Machado went into hiding.
In a post on X, Machado dedicated the award to Trump, among others.
Machado wrote: “This recognition of the struggle of all Venezuelans is a boost to conclude our task: to conquer Freedom. We are on the threshold of victory and today, more than ever, we count on President Trump, the people of the United States, the peoples of Latin America, and the democratic nations of the world as our principal allies to achieve Freedom and democracy. I dedicate this prize to the suffering people of Venezuela and to President Trump for his decisive support of our cause.”
Machado’s ally, Edmundo González, who lives in exile in Spain, celebrated the Nobel award as a “very well-deserved recognition” of her fight and that of Venezuelans for freedom and democracy. He posted a short video on X of himself speaking over phone with Machado.
“I am in shock,” she said, adding, “I cannot believe it.”
“This is something that the Venezuelan people deserve,” Machado said in a call with the Norwegian Nobel Institute. “I am just part of a huge movement.... I’m humbled, I’m grateful and I’m honoured not only by this recognition, but I’m honoured to be part of what’s going on in Venezuela today.”
The Nobel committee said it chose Machado primarily for her efforts to advance democracy “in the face of ever-expanding authoritarianism in Venezuela”.
Machado, 58, is the eldest daughter of a prominent steelmaking family, and attended an elite Catholic girls’ school in Caracas and a boarding school in Wellesley, Massachusetts. She studied engineering and finance and later worked for the family company, Sivensa.
In 1992, she created theAtenea Foundation, whichprovides aid to children living in poverty in Caracas. A decade later, she became a political activist and was a founder of Súmate, a voter rights group that led a failed effort to recall Hugo Chávez, the founder of the country’s modern socialist movement andMaduro’s predecessor.
Machado joined the National Assembly in 2010, after winning a record number of votes. She leads the Vente Venezuela Opposition party, and in 2023 she announced a bid to become President in the 2024 election.
Machado was blocked from running over what the government said were financial irregularities when she was a national legislator. She backed another candidate, Edmundo González Urrutia.
González ran against Maduro, who has held power since Chávez died in 2013. Maduro claimed victory in the election.
The Opposition, however, claimed it had won, and collected evidence that it said showed González won by a wide margin. A Venezuelan court issued an arrest warrant for González over the publication of election results. He went into exile in Spain and was granted asylum.
More than 800 people are in prison in Venezuela for political reasons, according to the human rights advocacygroup Foro Penal. Among them is González’s son-in-law, Rafael Tudares, who was detained in January.
Dozens of those prisoners actively participated in Machado’s efforts last year. Some of her closest collaborators, including her campaign manager, avoided prison by sheltering for more than a year at a diplomatic compound in Caracas. They remained there until May, when they fled to the US.
New York Times News Service and AP