Trump Misses Out as Venezuela’s María Corina Machado Wins 2025 Nobel Peace Prize

Oslo, Nor­way – Octo­ber 10, 2025
The Nobel Com­mit­tee has award­ed this year’s Nobel Peace Prize to María Cori­na Macha­do, the Venezue­lan oppo­si­tion leader and long­time advo­cate for democ­ra­cy, mark­ing a his­toric recog­ni­tion of her coura­geous strug­gle for polit­i­cal free­dom in one of Latin America’s most repres­sive regimes.

The deci­sion, announced Fri­day in Oslo, rep­re­sents a sym­bol­ic tri­umph for Venezuela’s pro-democ­ra­cy movement—and a sharp con­trast to the high-pro­file bid by for­mer U.S. Pres­i­dent Don­ald Trump, who had been wide­ly spec­u­lat­ed as a con­tender after months of self-pro­mo­tion and inter­na­tion­al nom­i­na­tions.

A Prize for Persistence and Courage

Macha­do, 57, has been one of the most promi­nent voic­es oppos­ing the author­i­tar­i­an gov­ern­ment of Nicolás Maduro. Despite repeat­ed threats, dis­qual­i­fi­ca­tion from elec­tions, and harass­ment by secu­ri­ty forces, she has remained an out­spo­ken cham­pi­on of civ­il rights and non­vi­o­lent polit­i­cal reform.

In its offi­cial state­ment, the Nor­we­gian Nobel Com­mit­tee praised her “unwa­ver­ing com­mit­ment to restor­ing democ­ra­cy in Venezuela” and “her tire­less fight to secure free elec­tions and uphold human dig­ni­ty under extra­or­di­nary pres­sure.”

Human rights orga­ni­za­tions quick­ly wel­comed the award. Amnesty Inter­na­tion­al called it “a vic­to­ry for all Venezue­lans who con­tin­ue to believe in free­dom, jus­tice, and the pow­er of peace­ful resis­tance.”

Trump’s Missed Moment

For months, Don­ald Trump and his allies had float­ed his name as a poten­tial Nobel lau­re­ate, cit­ing his pre­vi­ous role in fos­ter­ing Mid­dle East nor­mal­iza­tion agree­ments and his claims of pro­mot­ing peace through “strong diplo­ma­cy.”

While Trump did receive nom­i­na­tions from a few Euro­pean politi­cians ear­li­er this year, Nobel observers not­ed that the Com­mit­tee has tra­di­tion­al­ly favored indi­vid­u­als engaged in human­i­tar­i­an and grass­roots peace­build­ing efforts rather than polit­i­cal lead­ers seek­ing per­son­al val­i­da­tion.

The Com­mit­tee did not ref­er­ence Trump direct­ly, but its deci­sion is wide­ly inter­pret­ed as a rebuff to the for­mer president’s self-declared can­di­da­cy for the hon­or.

Speak­ing to reporters out­side his Mar-a-Lago resort, Trump said, “Every­body knows I should have won. Nobody’s done more for peace than I have. But the Nobel Com­mit­tee has always been polit­i­cal.”

Global Reactions

Across Venezuela, news of Machado’s award sparked cel­e­bra­tion. Sup­port­ers flood­ed social media with the hash­tag #OrgulloVene­zolano (“Venezue­lan Pride”), while cit­i­zens in Cara­cas gath­ered in pub­lic squares wav­ing nation­al flags and chant­i­ng her name.

Inter­na­tion­al lead­ers also offered con­grat­u­la­tions. Euro­pean Union for­eign pol­i­cy chief Josep Bor­rell called the recog­ni­tion “a pow­er­ful sig­nal of hope to all who con­tin­ue to fight for free­dom in Venezuela.”

Mean­while, reac­tions in the Unit­ed States were mixed. Some praised the Nobel Committee’s deci­sion to rec­og­nize a human rights advo­cate, while Trump loy­al­ists dis­missed it as anoth­er exam­ple of what they per­ceive as “anti-Trump bias” from glob­al insti­tu­tions.

A Symbol Beyond Borders

For many, Machado’s win is about more than Venezuela—it’s a broad­er reminder that the Nobel Peace Prize still seeks to hon­or those work­ing to advance lib­er­ty under dif­fi­cult con­di­tions.

“María Cori­na Macha­do embod­ies the spir­it of demo­c­ra­t­ic courage,” said Nobel Com­mit­tee Chair Berit Reiss-Ander­sen. “Her exam­ple shows that peace­ful strug­gle for jus­tice remains one of the most pow­er­ful forces in the world.”

As for Trump, the loss may fuel his famil­iar nar­ra­tive of being over­looked by glob­al elites. But for mil­lions of Venezue­lans, this year’s Nobel Prize feels like long-over­due recog­ni­tion for a nation’s unbro­ken desire to be free.