Maria Corina Machado wins Nobel Peace Prize, thanks Trump for ‘decisive support’

Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, awarded the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize on Friday, surprised many by making an unexpected mention of US President Donald Trump while thanking the people of Venezuela for the honour.

Machado, who has been barred from contesting presidential elections by Venezuela’s courts and has reportedly been in hiding for the past year, praised the “decisive support” of Trump and the United States in two separate social media posts following the Nobel announcement.

In her first reaction, Machado wrote that Venezuela now counts on Trump and the US “more than ever to achieve freedom and democracy.”

“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 main allies to achieve freedom and democracy,” she said.

The Nobel Committee lauded Machado’s “tireless work promoting democratic rights for the people of Venezuela and for her struggle to achieve a peaceful transition from dictatorship to democracy.”

In another post, the Nobel laureate dedicated her award “to the suffering people of Venezuela and to President Trump for his decisive support.”

“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,” she wrote.

Trump, who had long claimed he deserved the Nobel Peace Prize for “resolving international conflicts,” has not yet commented on the award. However, he shared a screenshot of Machado’s post on his social media platform without any caption.

White House Director of Communications Steven Cheung reacted sharply to the Nobel announcement, calling it a case of “politics over peace.”

“President Trump will continue making peace deals, ending wars, and saving lives,” Cheung said on X.

Machado has been a vocal supporter of Trump’s hardline stance on Venezuela, including his policy of military pressure on President Nicolás Maduro’s regime and the US naval deployment near the country — which she called a “necessary measure” toward democratic transition.

Trump had also voiced support for Machado earlier this year, when she was briefly detained during an anti-government protest in Caracas.

“Venezuelan democracy activist Maria Corina Machado and President-elect Gonzalez are peacefully expressing the will of the Venezuelan people… These freedom fighters should not be harmed, and MUST stay SAFE and ALIVE!” Trump wrote in January 2025.

Meanwhile, the Nobel Committee’s decision has drawn criticism from several world leaders, including Russia’s Vladimir Putin and Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu, who questioned the panel’s “political bias” in choosing Machado for the peace prize.