Venezuelan opposition leader and democracy campaigner Maria Corina Machado has been awarded the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize for what the Norwegian Nobel Committee described as her “tireless work promoting democratic rights for the people of Venezuela” and “her struggle to achieve a just and peaceful transition from dictatorship to democracy.”
Machado, a former member of Venezuela’s National Assembly and longtime critic of President Nicolás Maduro, has been a prominent figure in the country’s pro-democracy movement, advocating for free elections, civil liberties, and international solidarity with Venezuelans facing political repression.
Announcing the award in Oslo on Friday, the Nobel Committee praised her efforts to “restore democratic values through non-violent means” despite government crackdowns and years of personal persecution.
The prize comes amid continuing political and economic turmoil in Venezuela, where opposition figures have faced arrests, bans from political participation, and restrictions on freedom of expression.
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Meanwhile, U.S. President Donald Trump, who had led a public campaign to be considered for the Peace Prize, was not eligible this year as nominations closed in January, at the start of his second term in office.
Machado becomes the first Venezuelan and one of few Latin American women to receive the Nobel Peace Prize, joining a list of laureates honoured for advancing democracy and human rights around the world.
