Trump Left Out of Nobel Peace Prize as Venezuela's Machado Honored
(MENAFN) Maria Corina Machado, a leading opposition figure in Venezuela, has been awarded the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize, bypassing U.S. President Donald Trump, who has repeatedly insisted he deserves the honor for what he claims are major global peace efforts during his time in office.
The announcement, made Friday by the Norwegian Nobel Committee, recognized Machado “for her tireless advocacy of democratic freedoms in Venezuela and her commitment to achieving a peaceful transition from dictatorship to democracy.” A staunch critic of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, Machado has long been a central figure in the country’s pro-democracy movement.
Reacting to the decision, White House communications director Steven Cheung said, “the committee proved they place politics over peace” and asserted that Trump would “continue making peace deals, ending wars, and saving lives.”
Despite having left office in 2021, Trump maintains that his administration was instrumental in mitigating numerous international conflicts — most recently pointing to his role in attempts to resolve tensions in Gaza. He has previously sought recognition for facilitating normalization agreements between Israel and several Arab nations.
Machado, who has maintained ties with Washington since the early 2000s, was received by then-President George W. Bush in the White House in 2005. Her international profile has grown amid a years-long political crisis in Venezuela, where Maduro has accused her of funneling U.S. resources to extremist factions. He has labeled her “a front for Washington’s interference.”
During Trump’s presidency, the United States, alongside several Western allies, backed opposition leader Juan Guaidó as Venezuela’s “interim president.” However, Guaidó’s efforts to topple Maduro, including through mass demonstrations and attempted coups, failed to unseat the incumbent.
Since returning to power in January 2025, Trump has ramped up pressure on Caracas, reinstituting sanctions and authorizing military actions framed by his administration as anti-narcotics operations. Critics — including Senator Rand Paul and Juan Gonzalez, a senior diplomat under President Joe Biden — contend these steps echo past regime-change tactics aimed at destabilizing leftist governments in Latin America. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, a vocal Maduro opponent, is reportedly spearheading the renewed efforts.
Earlier this week, the Nobel literature prize was awarded to Hungarian novelist Laszlo Krasznahorkai, a vocal critic of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, one of Trump’s staunchest allies in Europe.
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