
Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado has just picked up the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize — and while most of the world is applauding, the White House is… less thrilled.
The Norwegian Nobel Committee announced on Friday that Machado had been chosen “for her struggle to achieve a just and peaceful transition from dictatorship to democracy” in Venezuela. The 58-year-old politician has spent decades challenging President Nicolás Maduro’s regime, working underground since her 2024 presidential bid was blocked and her life put at risk.

(Photo by Alfredo Lasry R/Getty Images)
Machado called the news “unbelievable”, saying the award was a victory for “a whole society” rather than for herself. The Nobel Committee described her as “one of the most extraordinary examples of civilian courage in Latin America in recent times”.
But while Oslo cheered, Washington pouted.
According to The Guardian, senior aides to US President Donald Trump lashed out at the committee for overlooking their boss — who, it’s worth noting, has been publicly campaigning for the award. The White House communications director, Steven Cheung, said the decision showed the committee “places politics over peace”, insisting Trump “will continue making peace deals, ending wars, and saving lives”.

Trump’s daughter-in-law, Lara Trump, even told Fox News that the former president “deserves it more than anyone alive on this planet right now”, claiming Nobel voters suffered from “Trump Derangement Syndrome”.
Meanwhile, Machado’s win is being widely read as a statement on democracy itself. Jørgen Watne Frydnes, chair of the Nobel Committee, said the decision was meant to highlight those who push for change “with ballots, not bullets”. Experts told CNN that the committee’s choice reflects growing alarm over global authoritarianism and democratic backsliding — from Venezuela to elsewhere.
“Research shows that democracy is an important precondition for peace. At a moment when authoritarianism is on the rise across the world, this award highlights the courage of those who defend freedom with ballots, not bullets,” Nina Græger, director of the Peace Research Institute Oslo told CNN.
Freedom House and Human Rights Watch both say Venezuela’s situation has worsened in recent years, with reports of arrests, torture, and disappearances targeting pro-democracy activists. Machado herself has been forced into hiding, occasionally surfacing to speak to outlets about the risks her supporters continue to face.
The contrast between her underground activism and Trump’s very public self-promotion couldn’t be starker. Despite his recent role in brokering what he called a “phase one” ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, historians and diplomats told The Guardian that the timing was simply too late — nominations closed in January, barely two weeks after he took office again.
Even so, Trump’s allies spent weeks lobbying Norwegian officials on his behalf and were reportedly confident he had a shot at winning. Russian President Vladimir Putin even weighed in, calling Trump “a person doing a lot to resolve complex crises” but saying some Nobel prizes have gone to people who “did nothing for peace”.

It seems Norway is bracing for retaliation from Trump over his loss.
“We have to be prepared for anything from him… When the president is this volatile and authoritarian, of course we have to be prepared for anything,” Kirsti Bergstø, the leader of Norway’s Socialist Left party, told The Guardian this week.
Machado, for her part, now joins a decades-long list of laureates who’ve stood up to power at immense personal cost. Whether she’ll be able to leave Venezuela to collect her 11 million kronor ($1.7 million AUD) prize in December remains unclear. As Frydnes told reporters, “It’s a serious security situation which needs to be handled first.”
So for now, the prize — and the spotlight — belong to her. Trump might have moved mountains in his words, but Machado risked her life to defend democracy, and the Nobel Committee has made its choice loud and clear.
Lead image: Getty Images
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