By In a gesture that stunned international observers, Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado dedicated her newly awarded Nobel Peace Prize to President Donald Trump, praising his “decisive support” for the fight to restore democracy in Venezuela.
The announcement came shortly after the Norwegian Nobel Committee named Machado as the 2025 laureate, honoring her for championing nonviolent resistance to the authoritarian regime of Nicolás Maduro. Machado quickly made clear that she viewed the award as a tribute not only to the Venezuelan people but also to Trump, whose administration she credited with standing firm against dictatorship.
“This recognition of the struggle of all Venezuelans is a boost to conclude our task: to conquer freedom,” Machado wrote on Twitter. “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. I dedicate this prize to the suffering people of Venezuela and to President Trump for his decisive support for our cause!”
This recognition of the struggle of all Venezuelans is a boost to conclude our task: to conquer Freedom.
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…
— María Corina Machado (@MariaCorinaYA) October 10, 2025
Her statement, echoed in an official release, marked one of the most direct expressions of gratitude yet from a Latin American leader to Trump, who has repeatedly suggested he deserves the Nobel himself, noted The Daily Caller. The dedication also followed closely on the heels of Trump’s diplomatic breakthrough in brokering an initial ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas, a deal widely hailed as a potential end to a two-year war in Gaza.
Earlier this year, Trump had publicly commended Machado for “peacefully expressing the voices and the WILL of the Venezuelan people with hundreds of thousands of people demonstrating against the regime.”
The Nobel Committee described Machado’s activism as both courageous and transformative. Her political career began with her election to Venezuela’s National Assembly in 2010, and she has remained one of the most visible faces of opposition to Maduro’s rule. Even as nearly eight million Venezuelans fled the nation’s economic collapse and repression, Machado stayed behind, organizing and mobilizing dissent.
Her presidential bid in 2024 was derailed when authorities barred her from the ballot over alleged financial irregularities. Undeterred, she rallied behind an alternate opposition candidate and helped coordinate a nationwide network of election monitors, which the Nobel Committee hailed as “innovative and brave, peaceful and democratic.”
Following the disputed vote, opposition groups claimed victory, but Maduro refused to yield power. The committee said Machado “meets all three criteria stated in Alfred Nobel’s will” — fostering disarmament, promoting international fraternity, and advancing peace. “She has brought her country’s opposition together. She has never wavered in resisting the militarization of Venezuelan society. She has been steadfast in her support for a peaceful transition to democracy,” the citation read.
Machado’s award, and her decision to share it symbolically with Trump, underscores both the global resonance of Venezuela’s democratic struggle and the emergence of unconventional alliances in the modern fight for freedom. It also shows that while American and European liberals can’t get over their political difference between themselves and Trump, the rest of the world sees the president of the United States as a worker for peace.
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