Trump misses out as winner of 2025 Nobel Peace Prize announced

Venezuelan opposition figure and democracy advocate Maria Corina Machado has been awarded the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize, recognized for her relentless campaign to restore democracy in her crisis-stricken nation, the Norwegian Nobel Committee announced on Friday.

Machado, who has been living in hiding for the past year, was honoured “for 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,” said Jorgen Watne Frydnes, chair of the committee, during the announcement in Oslo.
“I am in shock,” Machado said in a video shared with AFP by her press team.

Frydnes described Venezuela as having shifted from a “relatively democratic and prosperous country” to a “brutal authoritarian state” facing deep humanitarian and economic turmoil.

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“The violent machinery of the state is directed against the country’s own citizens. Nearly eight million people have left the country,” he said, noting that the opposition has been systematically repressed through “election rigging, legal prosecution and imprisonment.”

Within this climate, Frydnes said Machado has become a “key, unifying figure in a political opposition that was once deeply divided,” adding that she represents “one of the most extraordinary examples of civilian courage in Latin America in recent times.”

“Despite serious threats against her life, she has remained in the country, a choice that has inspired millions,” he added.

Machado’s candidacy for Venezuela’s 2024 presidential election was blocked by the regime, prompting her to back Edmundo González Urrutia, a little-known former diplomat, as her stand-in candidate.

Her selection as this year’s laureate came as a surprise, with few predicting her victory before the official announcement.

Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump, who has openly stated his wish to win the Nobel Peace Prize, was among those whose hopes were dashed this year.

Since beginning his second term in January, Trump has repeatedly claimed he “deserves” the honour for his efforts to resolve global conflicts—claims that observers have widely dismissed as exaggerated.
Experts in Oslo had already suggested that Trump’s chances were slim, pointing out that his “America First” approach runs contrary to the ideals of the Peace Prize outlined in Alfred Nobel’s 1895 will.

Frydnes emphasized that the Nobel Committee remains immune to lobbying or publicity campaigns.

“In the long history of the Nobel Peace Prize, I think this committee has seen every type of campaign, media attention,” he said.“We receive thousands and thousands of letters every year of people wanting to say, what for them, leads to peace.”“We base our decision only on the work and the will of Alfred Nobel.”

Last year’s Peace Prize went to Nihon Hidankyo, a Japanese anti-nuclear movement made up of survivors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

The Nobel Peace Prize comes with a gold medal, diploma and a $1.2 million cash award, and will be formally presented in Oslo on December 10, marking the anniversary of Alfred Nobel’s death in 1896.

While the Peace Prize is awarded in Oslo, the other Nobel categories—literature, medicine, physics, chemistry and economics—are announced in Stockholm.

On Thursday, the Literature Prize went to Laszlo Krasznahorkai, regarded as Hungary’s most significant living writer, known for exploring themes of postmodern despair and dystopia.

The 2025 Nobel announcements conclude Monday with the Economics Prize.
(AFP)