Venezuelan activist wins Nobel Peace prize

María Corina Machado (Spanish: María Corina Machado), born on October 7, 1967, in Caracas, Venezuela, is a politician, industrial engineer, and leading opposition activist who has in recent years become one of the main figures opposing Maduro’s government.

She graduated in Industrial Engineering from Universidad Católica Andrés Bello and founded the liberal political party Vente Venezuela in 2013. In 2010, Machado was elected to the National Assembly of Venezuela with the highest number of votes and represented the Miranda region from 2011 to 2014.

Machado previously ran against Maduro in Venezuela’s presidential election but was defeated. She is known to be supportive of Israel, and in an interview once stated that, if elected president, she would move Venezuela’s embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

This year, a total of 338 candidates were nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, including 244 individuals and 94 organizations. The 2025 Nobel Peace Prize will be awarded at a ceremony in Oslo on December 10, 2025.

The Peace Prize attracted more attention this year due to U.S. President Donald Trump’s campaign to receive it. Some Norwegian officials recently expressed concern about a possible strong reaction from Trump, who has nominated himself several times since 2018, repeatedly claiming he deserves the prize and warning that not awarding it to him would be “an insult to America.”

Previously, Nina Græger, Director of the Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO), had stated that the most likely candidates for this year’s award included Sudan’s Emergency Response Rooms, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), and the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF).