11
The Nobel Peace Prize for 2025 has been awarded to Venezuelan politician María Corina Machado. The prize is worth 11 million kronor (approximately 967,000 euros).
2025 Nobel Peace Prize: Winner María Corina Machado
The Norwegian Nobel Committee honored her for her tireless efforts to promote the democratic rights of the Venezuelan people and her fight for a just and peaceful transition from dictatorship to democracy in Venezuela.
- Machado is considered a staunch opposition leader against authoritarian President Nicolás Maduro.
- There were a total of 338 nominations for the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize, including organizations such as Reporters Without Borders, the UN Refugee Agency UNHCR, and the West African Peace Network WANEP.
- US President Donald Trump had also hoped to receive the award, but was not honored.
- The decision was seen as politically significant and indirectly directed against authoritarian regimes such as Maduro’s, emphasizing democracy as a prerequisite for stable peace.
About the person: Information about María Corina Machado
María Corina Machado is a prominent Venezuelan opposition politician who was born in Caracas in 1967. She is known for her vigorous opposition to the authoritarian regimes of Hugo Chávez and, in particular, Nicolás Maduro. In 2025, she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for her tireless efforts to promote democratic rights and the peaceful transition from dictatorship to democracy in Venezuela.
- Marchado studied industrial engineering and finance, founded the Fundación Atenea in 1992 to support orphans in Caracas, and was a member of the National Assembly in 2010. However, she was forced out of office by the regime in 2014.
- She leads the opposition party Vente Venezuela and was a co-founder of the Soy Venezuela alliance. The latter unites various forces of the democracy movement.
- In 2024, Maria Corina Machado ran for president. However, she was excluded from the election, but then supported the opposition candidate Edmundo González, who she believes won the election. She then went into hiding in Venezuela for fear of arrest and has been living in hiding since August 2024.
- The Nobel Prize honors her contribution to the promotion of democracy and human rights in a country increasingly characterized by authoritarian tendencies. The award has also drawn international attention to the political situation in Venezuela and further strengthened her commitment.
- In her private life, Machado is divorced, the mother of three children who live abroad for security reasons, and she is Catholic.
- Images of María Corina Machado from different stages of her career show her as a committed and charismatic leader of the Venezuelan opposition.
These are the most important criteria for the Nobel Prize
The Nobel Peace Prize is awarded annually by the Norwegian Nobel Committee. The most important criteria for awarding the Nobel Prize are based on Alfred Nobel’s will and vary depending on the category:
- Physics: The prize is awarded for the most significant discovery or invention in the field of physics.
- Chemistry: The prize is awarded for the most important chemical discovery or improvement.
- Physiology or Medicine: The prize is awarded for the most important discovery in the field of physiology or medicine.
- Literature: The award is given for the most outstanding work in the field of literature.
- Nobel Peace Prize: Awarded to the person or organization that has done the most or best to promote fraternity among nations, the abolition or reduction of standing armies, and the holding of peace congresses.
- Nobel’s will states that the prize should honor individuals who have brought the greatest benefit to humanity in the past year. In practice, this period is often handled flexibly so that older achievements whose significance only became apparent later are also recognized.
- The selection is made by various institutions, such as the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences for Physics and Chemistry, the Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institute for Medicine, the Swedish Academy for Literature, and a committee of the Norwegian Parliament for the Nobel Peace Prize.
- The exact decision-making processes and members of the juries are kept confidential. Only selected individuals are allowed to submit nominations, followed by a multi-stage evaluation process that includes expert opinions and voting.
- The Nobel Prize is usually awarded to up to three people in a team to honor significant research or contributions to humanity in their respective fields. The decision-making process takes into account, in particular, the lasting benefits of the achievements for humanity.
