Venezuelan opposition leader, Maria Corina Machado, has dedicated her Nobel Peace Prize to the people of Venezuela and US President Donald Trump, for his ‘decisive support’ for her country’s pro-democracy movement.
‘I dedicate this prize to the suffering people of Venezuela and to President Trump for his decisive support of our cause!’ she wrote on X.
‘We are 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 principal allies to achieve Freedom and democracy,’ she added.
Machado has been in hiding in Venezuela for the past year since the elections that authoritarian leftist President Nicolas Maduro is accused of stealing.
The politician, who was barred from contesting the election, campaigned instead for her stand-in, ex-diplomat Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia, seen by much of the international community as the rightful winner.
The Nobel Committee cited her ‘tireless work promoting democratic rights for the people of Venezuela and for her struggle to achieve a just and peaceful transition from dictatorship to democracy.’
Machado, 58, has backed Trump’s ongoing campaign of military pressure on Maduro, including a major US naval deployment near Venezuela, as a ‘necessary measure’ towards a democratic transition in Venezuela.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, shared Machado’s post dedicating her Nobel to Trump on her X account.
Donald Trump, who brokered peace in Gaza and had been widely discussed as a contender, missed out on the prize, with Chair of the Norwegian Nobel Committee Jorgen Watne Frydnes suggesting he was not the most deserving candidate.
