María Corina Machado, the Venezuelan opposition leader and democracy activist, has been awarded the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize.
Announcing the decision in Oslo on 10 October, the Norwegian Nobel Committee said Machado was honoured “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, an industrial engineer and former legislator, has been a central figure in Venezuela’s opposition movement for more than a decade. She won the opposition’s 2023 primary but was barred from holding public office, a disqualification later upheld by Venezuela’s Supreme Court in January 2024. Despite legal pressure and reported threats, she remained in the country and continued to campaign for competitive elections and institutional reform.
In its citation, the Nobel Committee described Machado as “a brave and committed champion of peace” who has sustained non-violent advocacy in the face of increasing authoritarianism. The committee framed the award against a wider global backdrop of democratic backsliding, stating that when authoritarians seize power it is important to recognise those who defend fundamental freedoms. The announcement was delivered at the Norwegian Nobel Institute in Oslo at 11:00 local time.
The prize comes after an extended period of political confrontation in Venezuela. Machado’s ban from office reshaped the opposition’s approach to the 2024 presidential contest, leading to attempts to field alternative candidates and to negotiate electoral conditions. International observers reported a deteriorating climate, with arrests, disqualifications and the disruption of opposition activity. The opposition’s subsequent claims regarding the outcome of the vote, and the treatment of its figures, kept the country’s political crisis in international view.
Machado has previously received international recognition for her human rights work. In September 2024, the Council of Europe awarded her the Václav Havel Human Rights Prize, citing her leadership and civil society engagement. The European Parliament also conferred the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought on Venezuelan opposition leaders later that year. These awards underscored her profile beyond Venezuela and made her a recurrent point of reference in foreign legislatures and rights bodies.
The Nobel Committee’s decision attracted heightened attention this year due to public debate surrounding other potential nominees, including statements by the President of the United States, Donald Trump, who has repeatedly said he should receive the prize. Reporting in recent days noted that Norwegian officials were alert to possible diplomatic repercussions from lobbying around the award. The committee did not address such commentary in its formal notice, focusing instead on the situation in Venezuela and Machado’s record.
By selecting a Venezuelan figurehead, the committee has again highlighted individual activism in a contested political environment, consistent with earlier laureates recognised for non-violent struggle against repression. The award places renewed international scrutiny on the condition of civil and political rights in Venezuela, including access to fair elections, freedom of assembly and the rule of law. The committee’s language emphasised peaceful transition and democratic standards rather than specific institutional prescriptions.
As with other Nobel awards, the Peace Prize includes a monetary component funded by the Nobel Foundation. For 2025, the prize amount is set at 11 million Swedish kronor (about $1.2 million). The Nobel Foundation has confirmed that level across this year’s categories. The Peace Prize will be presented in Oslo on 10 December, the anniversary of Alfred Nobel’s death, in a ceremony that traditionally includes a lecture by the laureate.
Machado’s selection follows last year’s award to Japan’s atomic bomb survivors’ organisation, Nihon Hidankyo, and continues the committee’s practice of alternating between individual dissidents and civil society groups. The committee received 338 nominations for the 2025 Peace Prize, comprising 244 individuals and 94 organisations, although the list remains confidential for 50 years under Nobel rules.
In practical terms, the honour is likely to strengthen Machado’s international platform and may affect calculations within Venezuela’s political landscape. Advocacy groups and foreign governments will watch whether the award prompts changes in the authorities’ stance toward opposition figures and the conduct of future electoral processes.
The Nobel Peace Prize is the only Nobel awarded by a Norwegian body; the prizes for medicine, physics, chemistry and literature are determined in Sweden. This year’s scientific and literary laureates were announced earlier in the week, with the economics prize due on Monday.
María Corina Machado and Edmundo González Urrutia Awarded 2024 Sakharov Prize
