Maria Corina Machado dedicates her Nobel to Trump for backing Venezuelans’ cause

Venezuelan pro-democracy opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, who won the Nobel Peace Prize 2025, dedicated the award to the US President Donald Trump on Friday while praising him for his “decisive support” for the people of Venezuela. The Norwegian Nobel Committee hailed Machado for her “tireless work promoting democratic rights” and advocating for a peaceful transition from dictatorship to democracy in Venezuela. “This recognition of the struggle of all Venezuelans is a boost to conclude our task: to conquer freedom. 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 on X.

“I dedicate this prize to the suffering people of Venezuela and to President Trump for his decisive support of our cause!” she said.

She highlighted the support she hopes to continue receiving from international allies.

President Trump had also batted for Machado and her movement for democracy in the past.

In January this year, when Machado was briefly detained during an anti-government protest against Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela’s Caracas, Trump called for her safety.

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Before his inauguration, Trump said in a post on Truth Social, “Venezuelan democracy activist Maria Corina Machado and President-elect Gonzalez are peacefully expressing the voices and the WILL of the Venezuelan people with hundreds of thousands of people demonstrating against the regime. The great Venezuelan American community in the United States overwhelmingly support a free Venezuela, and strongly supported me. These freedom fighters should not be harmed, and MUST stay SAFE and ALIVE!”

Donald Trump’s Truth Social post on January 10 Photograph: ()

Machado was forced into hiding after last year’s election that was widely seen as having been rigged by the incumbent President Nicolas Maduro.

The Maduro government has often threatened to arrest Machado. She was briefly detained when she emerged from hiding to attend an opposition rally in January but she was quickly released following an outcry in Venezuela and on an international level.

The Nobel Peace Prize also highlights the repression that the Maduro government has unleashed on the opposition and those connected to it.

As per reports, there are currently 841 political prisoners being held in detention in Venezuela.

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Meanwhile, Venezuelan politician Edmundo González congratulated María Corina Machado on her Nobel Peace Prize win. During the call from Spain, where González is in exile, Machado told him, “I am in shock. I cannot believe it.”

The Norwegian Nobel committee praised Machado as a key unifying figure in the opposition, advocating for free elections and representative government.

President Nicolás Maduro’s government disqualified her from running in last year’s presidential election.

Machado becomes the 20th woman to receive the Nobel Peace Prize, joining a distinguished group of laureates.

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