Maria Colina Machado, the Venezuelan opposition leader who has been forced into hiding since last year’s election chaos, has been awarded the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize for “keeping the flames of democracy burning in the growing darkness.”
The Norwegian Nobel Committee announced the award at a ceremony in Oslo on Friday, announcing that Machado received the award for his tireless promotion of democratic rights in Venezuela and his “struggle to achieve a just and peaceful transition from dictatorship to democracy.”
Machado was born in Caracas, the capital of Venezuela, in 1967 and trained as an industrial engineer before entering politics. In 2002, she founded Súmate, a volunteer group that promotes political rights and monitors elections.
Machado says her life’s work is promoting “votes over bullets.” The Nobel Prize Committee hailed her as “one of the most extraordinary examples of civilian courage in Latin America in recent years.”
“Oh my God… I’m speechless,” said Machado, who was woken up in the middle of the night by a call from the committee telling her she had won the award.
In a statement accepting the award, Machado said the award belonged to the Venezuelan people.
“This is a recognition of what we have achieved together and a reminder of what still remains,” she said, adding that it should be the impetus for Venezuelans to complete the task of achieving freedom.
The White House has criticized the Nobel Prize committee for ignoring the peace efforts of Donald Trump, who has long publicly aspired to win the prize, but the US president praised Machado in January for “peacefully expressing the voice and will of the Venezuelan people.”
On Friday, President Trump said he spoke with Machado after the award was announced, adding that she was “very nice” on the phone. “Today, I received a call from an actual Nobel Prize winner who said, ‘I accept the award in your honor, because you truly deserve it,'” the president said.
Machado mentioned the phone call earlier Friday, telling El Pais newspaper that the Venezuelan people are “deeply grateful” to the president.
Previously, she publicly thanked people on social media for their “steadfast support of our cause”.
“We are on the threshold of victory. And today, more than ever, we rely on President Trump, the people of the United States, the people of Latin America, and the democracies of the world as our key allies in achieving freedom and democracy. Venezuela will be free!” she wrote to X.
Tensions between the United States and Venezuela have escalated in recent weeks. CNN previously reported that Trump is implementing a broad strategy aimed at weakening President Nicolas Maduro, according to people briefed on the administration’s plans.
Machado’s job became increasingly difficult over time. Freedom House, a watchdog group, said Venezuela’s democratic institutions have been deteriorating since 1999 and have “deteriorated sharply in recent years” due to Maduro’s harsh crackdown.
Machado tried to run against Maduro in the 2024 presidential election, but his candidacy was invalidated by the regime. She then switched support to Edmundo González Urrutia’s party and worked to mobilize the public and train election observers to ensure that voting was free and fair.
After the vote, both Maduro and González declared victory. Opposition groups denounced Maduro after electoral authorities aligned with the Venezuelan government declared him the winner with 51.95% of the vote. Analysts reported a “suspicious” data pattern in the reported results. One expert said the odds of this particular pattern occurring by chance are about 1 in 100 million.
After the election, Machado claimed he could prove that Maduro lost “to Edmundo in a 67% to 30% landslide.” Writing in the Wall Street Journal, she said her organization had “obtained direct receipts from more than 80% of polling places across the country.”
The Nobel Committee on Friday praised Machado for “ensuring the final tally was documented before the administration destroyed the ballots and lied about the results.” At the time, the Biden administration agreed that there was “overwhelming evidence” that Maduro had lost votes.
Nobel Peace Prize winner Maria Colina Machado has been forced to live in hiding for the past year. Despite serious threats to her life, she remained in the country, and her choice inspired millions of people.
When an authoritarian seizes power, the important thing is… pic.twitter.com/GA3C7asz4Y
— Nobel Prize (@NobelPrize) October 10, 2025
After declaring victory, Maduro’s government moved to crack down on the opposition. The watchdog group Human Rights Watch said earlier this year that the government was “killing, torturing, detaining, and forcibly disappearing people demanding democratic change.”
As a result, Machado has been living in hiding in Venezuela since last year, briefly emerging during protests in January. Speaking to CNN from an unknown location in August 2024, Machado said the regime had “completely lost touch with reality and lost its social base,” allowing her movement to operate without resources and under strict censorship, allowing it to mobilize “millions of Venezuelans” who are committed to democracy.
“Everyone in Venezuela is afraid of losing our freedom and even our lives,” she told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour. “But above all, we are committed to spreading the truth and achieving a peaceful transition to democracy.”
Venezuelan opposition leader says Maduro government is ‘in the weakest position in history’
The Nobel Peace Prize is awarded annually to the person or organization that has contributed most to fulfilling the conditions set out in the will of Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel, who founded the Nobel Prize.
His will stated that the award would be given to “the person who has done the most or best work in promoting fraternity among nations, the abolition or reduction of standing armies, and the establishment and propagation of peace conferences.”
Norwegian Nobel Committee Chairman Jørgen Watne Fridnes said Machado fully met the criteria.
“She united the country’s opposition. She never wavered in resisting the militarization of Venezuelan society. She has been a staunch supporter of a peaceful transition to democracy,” he said on Friday.
Machado’s fellow opponent González said his movement was “very happy” that Machado was presented with the award.
“This award recognizes peace, a fundamental element of our (2024) election campaign. During the campaign, we put peace at the center of our ambitions to ensure a peaceful and orderly transition of power. This is why this award embodies the character of María Colina Machado, an honest, courageous and courageous politician.”
Karim Hagag, director of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), said that in selecting Machado as this year’s recipient, the committee expressed concern for the health of democracies around the world.
“The Nobel Committee has clearly chosen to highlight democracy as a priority area, emphasizing that this prize is being awarded at a time when democratic values and norms are in retreat worldwide,” Haggag told CNN.
Nina Greger, director of the Oslo Peace Research Institute, said Machado’s award was “first and foremost an award for democracy.”
“Research shows that democracy is a key precondition for peace. At a time when authoritarianism is on the rise around the world, this award highlights the courage of those who defend freedom with their votes, not their bullets,” she told CNN.
Analysts say the committee often uses the awards to send messages about issues of concern over the past year. The 2024 award was presented to Nippon Hidankyo, a grassroots Japanese atomic bomb survivor organization, at a time when the world was once again facing the threat of nuclear weapons, amid threats from Russia during the Ukraine war.
Friday’s award came after months of self-promotion by President Donald Trump, who repeatedly emphasized that he believed he deserved the award for ending an “unsolvable” war during his second term.
President Trump scored a major diplomatic victory this week by announcing the first phase of a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, but it was likely too late to influence the Nobel Prize committee. Nominations for this year’s award closed on January 31, just 11 days into President Trump’s term.
Nevertheless, the White House criticized the committee for disrespecting Trump.
“President Trump will continue to seal peace deals, end wars, and save lives,” said communications director Stephen Chan. “The Nobel Committee has proven that they are putting politics before peace.”
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio nominated Machado for the peace prize in 2024, when he was a senator from Florida, as Venezuela was rocked by protests that turned into a contentious presidential election. “Her tireless fight for a free and just Venezuela was an inspiration and will always be remembered,” he wrote to X at the time.
The award also comes at a time of heightened tensions between the U.S. and Venezuela, with the U.S. military carrying out deadly attacks on ships off the coast of Venezuela that the Trump administration has labeled as “drug-trafficking” vessels.
The United States has also sent at least seven warships to the southern Caribbean and announced a $50 million reward for information leading to Maduro’s arrest. Venezuela’s president has faced formal drug trafficking charges from the Justice Department since 2020, which he denies.
The Peace Prize carries a cash prize of 11 million Swedish kronor ($1 million) and will be formally awarded at a ceremony in Oslo in December.
Chairman Fridnes could not confirm whether Mr. Machado would be able to attend.
“This is a security issue. It’s too early to say. We always hope to bring the winners to Oslo, but this is a serious security situation and needs to be addressed first,” Fridnes said.
Fix:
A previous version of this article incorrectly reported that U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio publicly praised Maria Colina Machado on the X show. Rubio’s post was from 2024.
