ACARACAS/ WASHINGTON: Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado won the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday for promoting democratic rights in her country and her struggle to achieve a transition to democracy, the Norwegian Nobel Committee said.
However, the decision drew criticism from the White House for not awarding the Nobel Peace Prize to US President Donald Trump, who aggressively lobbied for the award and touted his role in brokering international ceasefire deals.
“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,” White House spokesman Steven Cheung said in a post on X. “The Nobel Committee proved they place politics over peace.”
Machado, a 58-year-old industrial engineer who lives in hiding, was blocked in 2024 by Venezuela’s courts from running for president and thus challenging President Nicolas Maduro, who has been in power since 2013.
“When authoritarians seize power, it is crucial to recognise courageous defenders of freedom who rise and resist,” it said in its citation.
The committee chose to focus on Venezuela at this time, in a year dominated by US President Donald Trump’s repeated public statements that he deserves the Nobel Peace Prize.
Maria Corina Machado dedicated her Nobel Peace Prize to the people of Venezuela -- and US President Donald Trump, for his “decisive support” for her country’s pro-democracy movement.
“I dedicate this prize to the suffering people of Venezuela and to President Trump for his decisive support of our cause!” she wrote on X. “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,” she added.
White House Press Secretary, Karoline Leavitt, shared Machado’s post dedicating her Nobel to Trump on her X account. The US president has not yet commented on the Nobel decision, but he did post three videos on his Truth Social account on Friday morning of supporters celebrating the Gaza deal.
Trump claims to have ended eight wars since taking office and insists he deserves the Nobel, though he said recently he fully expected to be passed over.
“Will you get the Nobel Prize? Absolutely not. They’ll give it to some guy that didn’t do a damn thing,” Trump told top US military leaders last month.
He said it would be a “big insult” to the United States if he didn’t get it. Nominations for the Nobel must have been made before January 31 to be valid for this year’s prize. Trump returned to the White House for his second term in office on January 20.
Trump drew significant attention after receiving endorsements from Pakistan, Israel, Cambodia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan. Ahead of the announcement, experts on the award had said Trump would not win it as he is dismantling the international world order the Nobel committee cherishes.
The Nobel Peace Prize, worth 11 million Swedish crowns, or about $1.2 million, is due to be presented in Oslo on December 10, the anniversary of the death of Swedish industrialist Alfred Nobel, who founded the awards in his 1895 will.—Reuters/AFP
News Desk adds: Norwegian officials in charge of awarding the Nobel Peace Prize are investigating information that online bets on this year’s recipient surged overnight, suggesting a potential leak of information, Bloomberg reported.
Bets for Maria Corina Machado spiked at the Polymarket betting site shortly after midnight Norwegian time, according to the information on its website. The secretive five-member committee had made a decision on Monday, according to local media reports.
