The Nobel Peace Prize for the year 2025 was awarded to Maria Corina Machado for her tireless work promoting democratic rights for the people of Venezuela.
Machado, also known as the Iron Lady in Venezuela, was listed in Time Magazine’s The 100 Most Influential People of 2025 list. As the leader of the democracy movement in Venezuela, Maria Corina Machado is one of the most extraordinary examples of civilian courage in Latin America in recent times.
A total of 338 nominations had been submitted for the award, including 244 individuals and 94 organisations.
United States President Donald Trump was among the nominees and has repeatedly insisted he deserves the prize, claiming credit for stopping multiple wars.
But observers have said his chances of winning the 124-year-old prize were slim. Other contenders included Sudan’s Emergency Response Rooms and the Committee to Protect Journalists.
Each prize is worth 11 million Swedish kronor (about $1.2m), and winners will be given a diploma and gold medal on December 10 – the anniversary of Swedish industrialist Alfred Nobel’s death.
Last year, the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to the Japanese anti-nuclear group Nihon Hidankyo, a grassroots movement of atomic bomb survivors from Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado has been awarded this year’s Nobel Peace Prize
Machado was barred from running in last year’s presidential elections won by President Nicolas Maduro. The polls were widely dismissed internationally as neither free nor fair.
She has largely been in hiding since those elections – here’s a profile by our South America correspondent.
The Nobel committee recognised her “tireless work promoting democratic rights for the people of Venezuela” and “her struggle to achieve a just and peaceful transition from dictatorship to democracy.”
US President Donald Trump had led a public campaign to win the award, but nominations closed in January – at the start of his second term in office.
The UN Human Rights Office (OHCHR) has issued its congratulations for this year’s Nobel Peace Prize winner, María Corina Machado.
“This recognition reflects the clear aspirations of the people of Venezuela for free and fair elections, for civil and political rights and for the rule of law,” says OHCHR spokesperson Thameen al-Kheetan.
EU chief Ursula von der Leyen joined in with congratulatory remarks, as she says the award to Machado honours not only her courage and conviction but also “every voice that refuses to be silenced”, adding: “In Venezuela and across the world.”
“The spirit of freedom cannot be jailed. The thirst for democracy always prevails,” she adds.
German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul echoes the same sentiment, as he congratulates Machado for being “a voice for freedom worldwide”.
Roberta Metsola, president of the European Parliament, says she is “so proud of the brave” Machado.
In a post on X, Metsola writes that Machado’s “tireless struggle for freedom and democracy in Venezuela has touched hearts and inspired millions across the globe”.