Venezuelan opposition leader and newly minted Nobel Peace Prize winner María Corina Machado dedicated the award on Friday to both President Donald Trump and the “suffering people of Venezuela.”
Machado, a leading figure in the resistance against Venezuela’s ruling party, went to X to acknowledge the honor and praise Trump for his support.
“This recognition of the struggle of all Venezuelans is an impetus to complete our task: conquering freedom,” Machado said. “We stand on the threshold of victory and today more than ever we count on President Trump, the people of the United States, the peoples of Latin America and the democratic nations of the world as our most important allies to achieve freedom and democracy.
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Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado gestures at a protest ahead of Friday’s inauguration of President Nicolás Maduro for his third term in Caracas, Venezuela, on January 9, 2025. (Maxwell Briceno/Reuters)
She added: “I dedicate this award to the suffering people of Venezuela and to President Trump for his decisive support of our cause!”
Machado has previously spoken out in support of the Trump administration’s actions against the regime of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and the country’s drug trafficking network.
Last month, after reports that a U.S. strike had killed 11 suspected narco-terrorists from Tren de Aragua who were transporting drugs from Venezuela, Machado appeared on Fox & Friends to discuss Maduro’s leadership and said it was time for him to go.
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U.S. President Donald Trump clenches his fist as he waits to welcome Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to the White House on September 29, 2025 in Washington, DC. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)
“On behalf of the Venezuelan people, I want to tell you how grateful we are to President Trump and the administration for addressing the tragedy that Venezuela is experiencing,” Machado said at the time. “…Maduro has made Venezuela the greatest threat to US national security and the stability of the region.”
Trump has also come out as a critic of Maduro, and according to Reuters, the US is among a number of countries that do not recognize Maduro’s government as legitimate.
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A Nobel medal is displayed during a ceremony in New York, Tuesday, December 8, 2020. (Angela Weiss/Pool photo via AP, file)
In last year’s elections, Machado rallied millions of Venezuelans to reject Maduro. She was described by Joergen Watne Frydnes, chairman of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, as a ‘brave and dedicated campaigner for peace’.
“She will receive the Nobel Peace Prize for her tireless work to promote democratic rights for the people of Venezuela and for her struggle to achieve a just and peaceful transition from dictatorship to democracy,” Frydnes said.
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Trump was also one of this year’s contenders for the Nobel Peace Prize, awarded annually to an individual or organization that has made a significant contribution to world peace, in the wake of his mediating role in a historic agreement between Israel and Hamas.
