Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado won the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize and immediately dedicated her award to Donald Trump. The 58-year-old, who has campaigned against President Nicolás Maduro's 12-year rule, told the US President during a congratulatory phone call how grateful Venezuelans are for his global peace efforts.
Machado told BBC Mundo she was "very glad" to speak to Trump and expressed appreciation for "what he's doing, not only in the Americas, but around the world for peace, for freedom, for democracy". According to the Daily Mail, she praised Trump for being "decisive" and having "Venezuela now at a threshold of freedom after 26 years of tyranny".
Trump's Nobel ambitions
Trump has made no secret about wanting to win the Nobel Peace Prize himself, regularly speaking about seven wars he claims to have ended. Nominations for the award closed in January, just as his second term began, with speculation that his role in the Israel-Hamas ceasefire could have earned him consideration.
A White House official said on Friday the "Nobel Committee proved they place politics over peace" after Trump was not selected. The Independent reports that 75% of CNN viewers opposed Trump winning the prize in a recent poll.
Venezuelan opposition struggle
Machado was forced to live in hiding for much of the past year due to serious threats against her life from the Maduro government. The Nobel Committee hailed her as "one of the most extraordinary examples of civilian courage in Latin America in recent times".
Nobel chairman Jørgen Watne Frydnes recognised her "struggle to achieve a just and peaceful transition from dictatorship to democracy". Despite being barred from running in last year's presidential elections, she united the opposition and helped get millions behind replacement candidate Edmundo González.
International implications
Machado told the BBC her award was "like an injection" for her political movement, adding that "democrats around the world share our struggle". She described Venezuela's regime as "a criminal structure" that sustains itself through drug trafficking, gold smuggling and other illicit activities.
Earlier this month, US forces killed four people in an attack on a boat off Venezuela's coast allegedly involved in drug trafficking. The strikes have attracted international condemnation, with some lawyers describing them as breaches of international law.
Sources used: "BBC", "Daily Mail", "Independent"
Note: This article has been edited with the help of Artificial Intelligence.
