Nobel Peace Prize 2025: Venezuelan activist María Corina Machado wins world's most prestigious award
The winner of the Nobel Peace Prize 2025 has been announced.
María Corina Machado has been named the winner of the Nobel Peace Prize 2025.
The Venezuelan politician, 58, has been recognised for her ‘tireless work’ promoting democratic rights for the people of her country while working as opposition leader.
After the announcement, the committee chairman said: “She is receiving the Nobel Peace Prize for her tireless work promoting democratic rights for the people of Venezuela and for her struggle to achieve a just and peaceful transition from dictatorship to democracy.
“As the leader of the democratic forces in Venezuela, María Corina Machado is one of the most extraordinary examples of civilian courage in Latin America in recent times.”
This year, the committee had a total of 338 candidates to choose from (244 of which are individuals and 94 organisations).
The Norwegian Nobel Committee said last week on Thursday that it had reached a decision about who would be named 2025 peace prize laureate.
It has been said US President Donald Trump has been vying for the prestigious award in recent weeks which has led many to speculate on his reaction after it has been awarded to Ms Machado.
Who is María Corina Machado?
María Corina Machado is a Venezuelan politician, industrial engineer and democracy activist.
As a founder of Súmate, an organisation devoted to democratic development, Ms Machado stood up for free and fair elections more than 20 years ago.
In political office and in her service to organisations since then, Ms Machado has spoken out for judicial independence, human rights and popular representation.
Ahead of the election of 2024, Ms Machado was the opposition’s presidential candidate, but the regime blocked her candidacy.
She then backed the representative of a different party, Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia, in the election. Hundreds of thousands of volunteers mobilised across political divides to ensure a transparent and fair election.
Despite the risk of harassment, arrest and torture, citizens across the country held watch over the polling stations. They made sure the final tallies were documented before the regime could destroy ballots and lie about the outcome.
“Machado has been a key unifying figure,” the committee chairman added.
"This is precisely what lies at the heart of democracy, our shared willingness to defend the principles of popular rule, even though we disagree.
"At a time when democracy is under threat, it is more important than ever to defend this common ground."
What is the Nobel Peace Prize?
The will of Alfred Nobel stipulated that the peace prize was to be awarded to the person "who shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity between nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses".
Over the course of time the Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded in recognition of many different kinds of peace work and concepts of peace.
Last year, the Japanese atomic bomb survivor movement Nihon Hidankyo received the award.
Other past winners include presidents, campaigners and organisations, from US President Jimmy Carter to Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, from Nelson Mandela to the late Chinese rights activist Liu Xiaobo, from the EU to International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons.
Each Nobel prize consists of a medal, a personal diploma, and a cash award. This year, each prize will be awarded 11m Swedish kronor (£869,484; $1,156,395).
Politicians fear potential repercussions after Trump not given peace prize
Before the announcement, Norwegian politicians had been preparing themselves for potential repercussions to US-Norway relations if the prize was not awarded to Donald Trump.
The Norwegian Nobel Committee said on Thursday last week that it had reached a decision about who would be named 2025 peace prize laureate, several days before Israel and Hamas agreed to a ceasefire under the US president’s Gaza plan.
Taking into account the timeframe and the composition of the independent five-person committee, most Nobel experts and Norwegian observers believed it was highly unlikely that Trump would be awarded the prize.
Now, there are fears over how Mr Trump will react to the latest news.
Who else has won a Nobel in 2025?
László Krasznahorkai won the Nobel Prize in Literature this year. The Hungarian author was recognised "for his compelling and visionary oeuvre that, in the midst of apocalyptic terror, reaffirms the power of art".
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded to Japan's Shimon Sakaguchi and US researchers Mary Brunkow and Fred Ramsdell. Their work is being used to develop new treatments for autoimmune diseases and cancer.
For the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Susumu Kitagawa, Richard Robson and Omar Yaghi's work on the development of metal-organic frameworks stood out.
And John Clarke, Michel H. Devoret and John M. Martinis won the Nobel Prize in Physics for their work on the discovery of macroscopic quantum mechanical tunnelling and energy quantisation in an electric circuit.
On Monday, we'll hear who takes home the prize for Economic Sciences.
Comments
Want to join the conversation? Please or to comment on this article.