Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado has dedicated her 2025 Nobel Peace Prize to the people of Venezuela and United States President Donald Trump, praising his “decisive support” for her country’s pro-democracy struggle.
“I dedicate this prize to the suffering people of Venezuela and to President Trump for his decisive support of our cause,” Machado wrote on X on Friday.
She added, “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.”
Machado, who has been in hiding for nearly a year, was announced as the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize winner by the Norwegian Nobel Committee for her “tireless work promoting democratic rights for the people of Venezuela and her struggle for a peaceful transition from dictatorship to democracy.”
The 58-year-old opposition figure was banned from contesting last year’s presidential election and instead supported her ally, former diplomat Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia, whom much of the international community recognises as the rightful winner.
Machado has supported Trump’s continued pressure campaign against President Nicolas Maduro, including a recent US naval deployment near Venezuela, which she described as “a necessary measure for democratic transition.”
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt reposted Machado’s dedication message on X, while other Venezuelan opposition leaders praised her achievement.
Former presidential candidate Henrique Capriles wrote, “May this recognition be another boost to achieve peace and for our Venezuela to leave behind the suffering and recover the freedom and democracy for which it has fought for so many years.”
