On 10 October, the Norwegian Nobel Committee awarded the Nobel Peace Prize to Venezuelan opposition figure María Corina Machado. The award recognised “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,” as stated in the committee’s announcement.
The presentation ceremony is scheduled for 10 December in Oslo. The committee that awards the Peace Prize is appointed by the Norwegian parliament. The remaining Nobel prizes – in literature and the sciences – are conferred by the relevant experts at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences and presented in Stockholm.
“Oh my God. Well, I have no words. Thank you so much, but I hope you understand this is a movement. This is an achievement of a whole society. I am just one person. I certainly do not deserve this. Oh my God,” Machado said on the phone to Kristian Berg Harpviken, director of the Norwegian Nobel Institute, who informed her of the award shortly before its official announcement.
She was not the only one taken by surprise, considering how the circumstances surrounding this year’s award were unprecedented. Never before had the Nobel Committee come under such pressure from an American president who felt he deserved the prize more than anyone, since he “stopped seven wars” as of last count. Beneath the headline, “the five Norwegians with Trump’s Nobel Prize dream in their hands,” the UK newspaper The Times cites a foreign policy analyst saying: “We’ve never seen anything like what Donald Trump has been doing for the past year or so.”
According to the article, Trump’s campaign “buttered up functionaries and journalists” and even reached out to Norwegian Finance Minister and former NATO secretary general Jens Stoltenberg to try to influence the committee. Some worried that Trump would impose additional tariffs on Norway if he did not receive the prize, noting, “a year ago it would have been unthinkable… but now… it’s no longer beyond the limits of what’s possible.”
Trump reportedly accelerated his push for the recently announced ceasefire between Hamas and Israel at least in part because he hoped this would sway the Nobel Committee. However, as analysts have observed, the committee’s decisions are based on a long-term assessment of the concrete impacts and durability of a political initiative.
While Trump did not win despite such pressures, the Nobel Committee’s choice of a Venezuelan opposition leader clearly suited US policy outlooks, leading some to describe it as a “consolation prize.” Machado herself understood this. “I dedicate this prize to the suffering people of Venezuela and to President Trump for his decisive support of our cause!” she posted on X.
The White House criticised the Nobel Committee’s decision, stating that it “proved they place politics over peace,” as White House Spokesman Steven Cheung said on the same platform, adding, “President Trump will continue making peace deals, ending wars, and saving lives. He has the heart of a humanitarian, and there will never be anyone like him who can move mountains with the sheer force of his will.”
The Nobel Committee’s statement reflects the belief that peace is not only measured by ending wars, but also by establishing justice and freedom. However, it may also reflect a determination to shift international attention away from the Middle East and towards South America and specifically the Venezuelan crisis, which the committee, in its announcement, framed as follows: “Venezuela has evolved from a relatively democratic and prosperous country to a brutal, authoritarian state that is now suffering a humanitarian and economic crisis. Most Venezuelans live in deep poverty, even as the few at the top enrich themselves.”
Washington, for its part, has been increasingly focused on Venezuela, with some analysts suggesting that the Trump administration has put regime change in Caracas back on the front burner. The US has long had Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro in its cross hairs. Most recently, US Attorney General Pam Bondi announced a $50 million reward for information leading to the arrest of Maduro, whom Trump called “one of the world’s biggest drug traffickers.” The US had previously backed the candidacies of Machado and “president-elect [Edmundo] González,” as Trump continues to refer to the Venezuelan candidate who was defeated in the 2024 elections.
Many were shocked by the Nobel Committee’s choice of Machado against the backdrop of the two-year-old genocide in Gaza. In 2020, her party, Vente Venezuela, signed a cooperation agreement with Likud to strengthen ties between the Venezuelan and Israeli peoples. Since 7 October 2023, she has been an outspoken supporter of Israel’s war on Gaza and reiterated her pledge that, if elected president, she would move Venezuela’s embassy to Jerusalem.
In her view, closer relations with Israel are strategically important to counter “the Iranian threat,” although how Tehran might threaten Venezuela remains unclear. She has also lauded Israel as a “model of democracy” in a “hostile environment.”
Machado and her party have been linked with other far-right parties in Europe, raising concerns she is invested in the growing Islamophobia and xenophobia in the West.
Such concerns help account for the widespread anger and ridicule with which the Nobel Committee’s choice was received. To many, the committee has voided the Nobel Peace Prize of all meaning. Some critics have cited Machado’s support for Washington’s current militarisation against her country and previous calls for foreign intervention to overthrow Maduro. Others recall that she had taken part in the 2002 coup against Hugo Chávez, signed the decree that dissolved the constitution and public institutions, and backed US sanctions that have since crippled the Venezuelan economy and deprived hundreds of thousands of people of food, medicine, and energy.
Many would agree with Cheung’s “politics over peace” assessment, albeit for different reasons. It appears that the award has indeed become highly politicised – in alignment with US, Western, and Israeli interests.
* A version of this article appears in print in the 16 October, 2025 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly
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