Nobel Peace Prize 2025
Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado has been named the winner of the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize, recognized for her unwavering fight to restore democracy and protect human rights in her country. The Nobel Committee described her as “a brave and committed champion of peace” who has stood firm against Venezuela’s growing authoritarianism.
Announcing the award in Oslo, Committee Chair Jorgen Watne Frydens spoke about the global decline of democratic freedoms, stating, “Democracy is a precondition for lasting peace. Yet around the world, it is in retreat.”
Machado, an industrial engineer by training and a former member of Venezuela’s National Assembly, has been at the forefront of her nation’s pro-democracy movement for decades. In 1992, she founded the Atenea Foundation, a charity helping street children in Caracas. A decade later, she co-founded Súmate, a civic organization that promotes free and fair elections. Elected to the National Assembly in 2010 with record voter support, she was later expelled in 2014 by the ruling regime.
Today, Machado leads the Vente Venezuela party and continues to call for a peaceful democratic transition. She also helped form the Soy Venezuela alliance, which brings together groups from across the political spectrum united by one goal — freedom for the Venezuelan people.
The Nobel Committee said Machado “has brought her country’s opposition together and never wavered in her peaceful struggle for freedom.”
The Nobel Peace Prize will be formally presented on December 10, 2025, in Oslo, Norway, marking the anniversary of Alfred Nobel’s death.
Last year’s Peace Prize went to Nihon Hidankyo, a Japanese organization representing survivors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, for their decades-long campaign to eliminate nuclear weapons.
Maria Corina Machado’s recognition serves as a reminder that even in times of repression, the pursuit of democracy remains one of humanity’s most powerful acts of peace.