LONDON – The Nobel Peace Prize was awarded Friday to Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado for her work “promoting the democratic rights of the people of Venezuela” and her efforts to lead the country from dictatorship to democracy.
Jorgen Watne Frydens, president of the Nobel Committee, spoke extensively about the advance of authoritarian regimes in the world and the retreat of democracy in the announcement.
The Nobel Committee described the Venezuelan politician and industrial engineer who is currently the leader of the opposition in Venezuela as “a brave and committed defender of peace.”
“Machado receives the Nobel Peace Prize primarily for his efforts to promote democracy in Venezuela,” the committee said. “But democracy is also in decline at the international level. Democracy, understood as the right to freely express one’s opinion, to cast a vote and to be represented in an elective government, is the basis of peace both within countries and between them.”
“María Corina Machado has led the fight for democracy in the face of ever-expanding authoritarianism in Venezuela. Ms. Machado studied engineering and finance, and had a short career in business,” the Nobel Committee said.
In 1992, Machado created the Atenea Foundation, which works to benefit street children in Caracas and, 10 years later, she was one of the founders of Súmate, a group that works to promote free and fair elections and has conducted electoral training and monitoring. In 2010, Machado was elected to the National Assembly and received a record number of votes.
“The regime expelled her from office in 2014,” the Nobel Committee said. “Ms. Machado leads the opposition Vente Venezuela party and in 2017 helped found the Soy Venezuela alliance, which unites pro-democracy forces in the country across political fault lines.”
TOPSHOT – (FILES) Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado waves a Venezuelan flag during a demonstration in Caracas on August 28, 2024. Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado wins the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize, the Norwegian Nobel Committee announced on October 10, 2025.
Juan Barreto/AFP via Getty Images
The announcement was made on Friday morning, but the actual awards ceremony will take place on December 10 in Oslo, Norway.
Frydens was asked about US President Donald Trump’s “campaign” for the award, but denied it had any impact on the decision-making process.
“We get thousands and thousands of letters every year from people who want to say what, for them, leads to peace,” Frydens said. “This committee meets in a room full of portraits of all the winners and that room is full of courage and integrity. We base our decision solely on the work and will of Alfred Nobel.”
“Democracy is a precondition for lasting peace. However, we live in a world where democracy is in retreat, where more and more authoritarian regimes defy norms and resort to violence,” the Nobel Committee stated.
“The Venezuelan regime’s rigid control of power and its repression of the population are not unique in the world,” he continued. “We see the same trends globally: abuse of the rule of law by those in control, free media silenced, critics imprisoned, and societies pushed towards authoritarian rule and militarization. In 2024, more elections than ever have been held, but fewer and fewer are free and fair.”
“María Corina Machado meets the three criteria established in Alfred Nobel’s will for the selection of a Peace Prize. She has united her country’s opposition. She has never wavered in resisting the militarization of Venezuelan society. She has been steadfast in her support for a peaceful transition to democracy,” the committee said.
“[She] has shown that the tools of democracy are also the tools of peace. She embodies hope for a different future, one where citizens’ fundamental rights are protected and their voices are heard. In this future, people will finally be free to live in peace,” Nobel Committee officials said.
(FILES) A photo taken on September 25, 2024 in Oslo, Norway, shows replicas of the obverse and reverse of the Nobel Peace Prize medal displayed at the Norwegian Nobel Institute. The winner of the Nobel Peace Prize will be announced in Oslo on October 10, 2025.
Jonathan Nackstrand/afp via Getty Images
Last year, Nihon Hidankyo, a Japanese anti-nuclear weapons group, won the Nobel Peace Prize for its work toward the abolition of nuclear weapons, and the Norwegian Nobel Committee said that the testimony of the Hibakusha, who are the survivors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, is unique in this broader context and that their perspective helps “generate and consolidate opposition to nuclear weapons around the world by drawing on personal stories, creating educational campaigns based on their own experience, and issuing urgent warnings against the spread and use of nuclear weapons.
There were 338 candidates nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize for 2025, of which 244 were individuals and 94 organizations. This is a significant increase from last year, when there were 286 nominees. The largest number of nominees to date occurred in 2016, when there were 376 candidates.
The list of nominees for the Nobel Peace Prize is published 50 years after it was awarded, in accordance with the statutes of the Nobel Foundation.
