No Nobel Peace Prize for Donald Trump; who is Maria Corina Machado?

Maria Corina Machado of Venezuela was announced as the Nobel Peace Prize 2025 winner on Friday. The leader of the democracy movement in Venezuela, 58-year-old Maria Corina Machado is one of the most extraordinary examples of civilian courage in Latin America in recent times, the Norwegian Nobel Committee observed.

"The Norwegian Nobel Committee has decided to award the 2025 #NobelPeacePrize to Maria Corina Machado 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," the Nobel Prize said on X.

"Maria Corina Machado – awarded the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize – has spent years working for the freedom of the Venezuelan people. The Venezuelan regime’s rigid hold on power and its repression of the population are not unique in the world. We see the same trends globally: rule of law abused by those in control, free media silenced, critics imprisoned, and societies pushed towards authoritarian rule and militarisation. In 2024, more elections were held than ever before, but fewer and fewer are free and fair," The Nobel Prize further said on X.

Maria Machado has been a key, unifying figure in a political opposition that was once deeply divided – an opposition that found common ground in the demand for free elections and representative government. This is precisely what lies at the heart of democracy: our shared willingness to defend the principles of popular rule, even though we disagree. "At a time when democracy is under threat, it is more important than ever to defend this common ground," the Norwegian Nobel Committee said.

The award  committee's focus on the durability of peace, the promotion of international fraternity and the quiet work of institutions that strengthen those goals are the factors that favoured the former opposition presidential candidate in Venezuela

 

The Venezuelan  leader the winner in a year dominated by U.S. President Donald Trump's repeated public statements that he deserves the Nobel Peace Prize. Ahead of the announcement,experts on the award had said Trump would not win it as he is dismantling the international world order the Nobel committee cherishes.

 

The Nobel Peace Prize, worth 11 million Swedish crowns, or about $1.2 million, is due to be presented in Oslo on December 10, the anniversary of the death of Swedish industrialist Alfred Nobel, who foundedthe awards in his 1895 will.

 

Last year's award went to Nihon Hidankyo, a grassroots movement of Japanese atomic bombing survivors who have worked for decades to maintain a taboo around the use of nuclear weapons.

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