Maria Corina Machado Wins 2025 Nobel Peace Prize Over Donald Trump’s Long-Held Ambition

RMN News Report Highlights

✨ Maria Corina Machado was named the winner of the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize for her struggle to achieve a just and peaceful transition from dictatorship to democracy in Venezuela. She previously stood up for free and fair elections more than 20 years ago as a founder of Súmate, stating her choice was “ballots over bullets”.

🇻🇪 The Nobel Committee honored Machado for her work unifying Venezuela’s previously divided opposition. Her efforts culminated ahead of the 2024 election, where the collective opposition, despite her candidacy being blocked, won by a clear margin before the regime refused to accept the result and clung to power.

🚨 The award highlights the growing global trend where democracy is in retreat and where authoritarian regimes, like Venezuela’s, systematically suppress citizens through election rigging, legal prosecution, and imprisonment. Despite this brutal context, Machado remained in the country, inspiring millions.

🌎 U.S. President Donald Trump continues his pursuit of the award, citing his claimed role in brokering a ceasefire between India and Pakistan following the April 2025 Pahalgam terror attack. Trump has suggested that the United States is ready to mediate a resolution to the Kashmir dispute.

Oslo, Norway – October 10, 2025

The Norwegian Nobel Committee announced today that the Nobel Peace Prize for 2025 has been awarded to Maria Corina Machado. Ms. Machado was recognized as a brave and committed champion of peace for her tireless work promoting democratic rights for the Venezuelan people and her struggle to achieve a just and peaceful transition from dictatorship to democracy.

Machado is regarded as one of the most extraordinary examples of civilian courage in Latin America in recent times. She has been a key figure in unifying a political opposition that was once deeply divided, finding common ground in the demand for free elections and representative government. This award arrives as democracy is seen globally as being in retreat.

Venezuela, once relatively democratic and prosperous, has evolved into a brutal, authoritarian state. The regime systematically suppresses the opposition through election rigging, legal prosecution, and imprisonment. Despite serious threats against her life, Ms. Machado has remained in the country, a choice that has inspired millions.

Her actions meet the three criteria stated in Alfred Nobel’s will for a Peace Prize laureate: she brought the country’s opposition together, she has resisted the militarization of Venezuelan society, and she has been steadfast in supporting a peaceful transition to democracy.

Meanwhile, U.S. President Donald Trump, who failed to secure the award this year, continues to actively tout his credentials as a global peacemaker, suggesting he is long overdue for a Nobel Peace Prize. His desire for the award has been a long-standing talking point, with some observers noting his ambition grew after former President Barack Obama received the award in 2009.

During recent White House remarks, the President cited “six wars” he had ended. He specifically claimed credit for brokering a ceasefire between India and Pakistan, which followed renewed violence after the Pahalgam terror attack in April 2025.

Trump can hope to receive the Nobel Peace Prize in the coming years if he can end the Kashmir dispute between India and Pakistan. Kashmir—once called paradise on Earth—has, for decades, become a symbol of unending suffering for its people, particularly for the persecuted Muslim communities who make up the majority of the population in the region.

Following the Pahalgam terror attack, the armed conflict between India and Pakistan once again threatened to plunge South Asia into chaos. But amidst the geopolitical crisis, Trump had stepped forward claiming credit for brokering a ceasefire between the two nuclear powers. He has also suggested that the United States is ready to mediate a resolution to the Kashmir dispute—a long-standing conflict that has left generations of Kashmiris trapped in what many describe as an open-air prison.