October 14, 2025
JAKARTA – The Nobel Committee certainly thinks Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado deserves to be the laureate of the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize for her nonviolent efforts to free Venezuela, which has been in political turmoil for years.
But it is also easy to see that the Nobel Committee’s choice was partly aimed at consoling United States President Donald Trump, who demanded the award for himself.
The Nobel Peace Prize awards are often expected to create significant impetus to end conflicts around the world, such as in Gaza, Myanmar, Sudan, Yemen and the Democratic Republic of Congo, as well as Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Two Nobel Peace Prizes have been awarded on issues related to Indonesia, primarily because of military brutality in Timor-Leste and Aceh.
The 1996 Nobel Peace Prize was jointly awarded to Dili Bishop Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belo and José Ramos-Horta “for their work towards a just and peaceful solution to the conflict in Timor-Leste”. In 2002, Timor-Leste became independent following an Indonesian occupation.
In 2008, the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to Martti Ahtisaari, former president of Finland, for his “important efforts on several continents and over more than three decades to resolve international conflicts”. In August 2005, the central administration and the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) signed a peace agreement, ending a three-year war, in which Ahtisaari acted as a chief negotiator.
“We do not coexist with tyranny, we end it”, was a key slogan in Machado’s campaign to end the dictatorship of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, who took power from Hugo Chavez in 2014 following the death of his predecessor.
The two consecutive Venezuelan autocrats have controlled the oil rich nation for 26 years and generated economic collapse in the country.
Machado immediately spoke with Trump after the announcement of her win. For Trump, Machado’s victory brings some comfort, as both are enemies of Maduro. Trump had vowed to topple Maduro by all means, and so Machado needs Trump.
According to the Nobel Committee, democracy is a precondition for lasting peace. Yet, we live in a world where democracy is in retreat, where more and more authoritarian regimes are challenging norms and resorting to violence.
“The Venezuelan regime’s rigid hold on power and its repression of the population are not unique in the world,” the committee cited in its rationale for awarding Machado the prize.
Trump’s actions this year are troubling in comparison to the esteemed nature of the award. The US President shamelessly insisted that no one in the world deserved the most prestigious award for peace more than him.
He even threatened the committee and Norway with consequences if they fail to comply with his demands.
Machado communicating with Trump following her win should certainly raise an eyebrow. But then again, Machado is no stranger to controversy. She has frequently praised right-wing leaders both in Latin America and in Europe.
In 2020, Machado’s party, Vente Venezuela, signed a pact formalizing strategic ties with Israel’s far-right Likud party led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The Nobel committee certainly makes a bet that if Machado wins her case in Venezuela, she will follow in the footsteps of Myanmar’s leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
Suu Kyi was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991 for her nonviolent struggle for democracy and human rights in Myanmar. However, Suu Kyi angered the international community in December 2019 when she vigorously defended the Myanmar military against allegations of genocide at the International Court of Justice in the Netherlands, over the mass rape and expulsion of the Rohingya people.
What did Suu Kyi receive from the Myanmar military? The Army general toppled her democratically elected government in February 2021 and has jailed her in an unknown location until now. The Myanmar junta continues its genocidal acts against the Rohingya and has even expanded its war against other minorities, with the country becoming a global pariah.
Congratulations to Machado and her supporters in Venezuela. Only time will tell if the Nobel Committee has made the right decision.