Updated October 10, 2025 at 11:56 AM CDT
Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado has won this year's Nobel Peace Prize for "her struggle to achieve a just and peaceful transition from dictatorship to democracy."
The announcement of Machado as winner of the prestigious award came as a surprise after intense speculation that President Trump could be a wildcard winner after negotiating a Gaza ceasefire this week.
But the Norwegian Nobel Committee said on Friday that Machado's tireless work promoting democratic rights for the people of Venezuela was "one of the most extraordinary examples of civilian courage in Latin America in recent times."
Machado, who has been barred from running for president and lives in hiding, "keeps the flame of democracy burning amid a growing darkness" in President Nicolás Maduro's "brutal, authoritarian" Venezuela, the committee said.
"Oh my God, I have no words"
In a video of Machado receiving the news posted to the Nobel Prize website and social media, she expresses shock at winning.
"Oh my God, I have no words." she says.
"I am just one person. I certainly do not deserve this," she continues, adding it is the "achievement of a whole society."
The 58-year-old has been one of the staunchest critics of Maduro's ruling United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV), which first came to power in the late 1990s under former President Hugo Chávez. Maduro succeeded Chávez in 2013.
An industrial engineer by profession and a former legislator in the Venezuelan National Assembly, Machado has been shot at and targeted by federal prosecutors. She had hoped to be a candidate presidential elections in July 2024, but was banned from running. Instead, she backed a different party, led by Edmundo González Urrutia.
The pro-Maduro National Electoral Council claimed that President Maduro had won a third term with 51% of the vote, but the opposition said the vote had been rigged and evidence showed González had won by a landslide.
Election observers noted numerous irregularities in the polls, which were widely dismissed by the international community as neither free nor fair.
Thousands of Venezuelans took to the streets in protest, but they were quashed by the government, and Machado went into hiding in August 2024 after threats to her life. However, she did not flee the country and remains in Venezuela where she has vowed to fight on.
"I trust the Venezuelan people, and I have no doubt that the result of our fight will be the liberation of Venezuela. Maduro is totally isolated, weaker than ever. And our people want and need to know that I'm here with them," Machado told NPR's All Things Considered last year.
Machado is a right-wing politician considered to be Venezuela's "iron lady" — the nickname of Britain's late former Conservative prime minister, Margaret Thatcher — who favors privatizing the state oil company and free-market policies, and supports international efforts to isolate and pressure the Venezuelan government. She has been lauded by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who as senator co-signed a letter to the Norwegian Nobel Committee endorsing Machado for the 2024 peace prize.
Following the announcement of her win Friday, she later praised President Trump, posting in English on social media: "I dedicate this prize to the suffering people of Venezuela and to President Trump for his decisive support of our cause!"
This recognition of the struggle of all Venezuelans is a boost to conclude our task: to conquer Freedom.
— María Corina Machado (@MariaCorinaYA) October 10, 2025
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…
Maybe next year for Trump?
There were 338 candidates for the Nobel Peace Prize this year — 244 individuals and 94 organizations. Bookies on Thursday said the odds favored Trump and Sudan's Emergency Response Rooms, a volunteer network helping civilians despite great risk in the midst of the country's civil war.
Trump has long insisted he deserves the prestigious global accolade. Last month, he claimed to the United Nations General Assembly, "Everyone says I should get the Nobel Peace Prize." He said earlier this year he thought he should win it but that the committee would not give it to him.
He was nominated for the prize by leaders including Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. But experts say the Gaza ceasefire may have come too late to change the outcome of this year's award, and the committee is known to value sustained peace efforts.
Trump's White House communications director, Steven Cheung, reacted to Machado's win on social media, posting: "The Nobel Committee proved they place politics over peace."
"President Trump will continue making peace deals, ending wars, and saving lives. He has the heart of a humanitarian," he added.
Machado has voiced support for Trump, including after the U.S. announced a $50 million bounty for information leading to President Maduro's arrest in August. "We're very grateful to President Trump for his decisive action towards freedom in Venezuela," Machado said in an interview on Fox News.
During Trump's first term, his administration led a "maximum pressure" campaign against the Maduro government. Since returning to office, Trump again has Venezuela in his crosshairs. The U.S. military has carried out several deadly strikes on boats it says were carrying drugs in the Caribbean, three of the vessels setting out from Venezuela.
The Maduro government says Trump is using the targeting of drug cartels as a pretext for regime change.
The ceremony for the Nobel Peace Prize will be held Dec. 10 in Oslo, and given Machado's current circumstances in hiding, it is not clear whether she will be able to attend.
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