Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado has been awarded the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize for her long-standing efforts to promote democracy and human rights in her country, the Norwegian Nobel Committee announced on Friday.
Machado receives the prestigious award, worth 11 million Swedish kronor (approximately $1.2 million), “for 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,” the committee said in a statement from Oslo.
“Through decades of persecution, disqualification, and political violence, María Corina Machado has remained steadfast in her non-violent pursuit of democratic change,” the committee’s citation read. “Her courage has inspired millions within Venezuela and across Latin America.”
The announcement was also shared on the official Nobel Prize social media account, which posted:
“BREAKING NEWS: The Norwegian Nobel Committee has decided to award the 2025 #NobelPeacePrize to Maria Corina Machado for 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.”
Machado, 57, is a veteran opposition figure who has led efforts against the authoritarian rule of President Nicolás Maduro. Despite being barred from running in Venezuela’s 2024 presidential election, she has continued to rally support for democratic reforms and international pressure on Caracas.
The Nobel Peace Prize, first established in the will of Swedish inventor Alfred Nobel in 1895, honors individuals or organizations that have made exceptional contributions to peace. Other Nobel Prizes are awarded annually in the fields of physics, chemistry, medicine, and literature, with an additional economics prize created by Sweden’s central bank in 1968.
This year’s award also comes amid what observers described as an unusually high-profile lobbying effort from foreign leaders, including a reported campaign by former U.S. President Donald Trump and his administration to secure the prize. The Nobel Committee did not comment on any such political pressure.
Machado’s win is being hailed by Venezuelan activists and international human rights organizations as a symbolic boost for the country’s pro-democracy movement, which continues to face political repression and economic crisis.
