Trump Passed Over for Nobel Peace Prize as Venezuelan Opposition Figure To Receive Award

Maria Corina Machado is being cited for her ‘civilian courage’ in supporting democratic rights.

Via the White House
The moment Prime Minister Netanyahu presents President Trump with a letter nominating him for the Nobel Peace Prize. Via the White House

In a decision that is sure to disappoint President Trump and his supporters, the Nobel committee has passed over Mr. Trump to award the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize to a Venezuelan opposition figure who lives in hiding.

The committee named Maria Corina Machado 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.”

Ms. Machado has been the leader of the democracy movement in Venezuela and was the opposition’s planned  presidential candidate in last year’s election before she was blocked from the ballot by President Nicolás Maduro’s regime. The committee said Ms. Machado is one of the “most extraordinary examples of civilian courage in Latin America in recent times.”

The committee said it was able to reach Ms. Machado just before the announcement and noted that she has been steadfast in her support for a peaceful transition to democracy.

Mr. Trump has said often that he deserves the peace prize. In his address to the United Nations last month Mr. Trump said, “Everyone says that I should get the Nobel Peace Prize.”

In other speeches Mr. Trump has taken credit for ending “seven unended wars,” and that was before this week’s deal between Israel and Hamas, but the president’s politics might have turned off the Norwegians who award the Nobel.

Mr. Trump has admitted that he was unlikely to receive the award. “They’ll give it to some guy that didn’t do a damn thing,” Mr. Trump told a roomful of military generals recently.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu nominated Mr. Trump and an Israeli advocacy group, Hostage and Missing Families Forum, submitted a letter in support of him. But that nomination came after the February 1 deadline for the 2025 award.

Mr. Trump’s nomination came up at a press conference for the announcement.

“I think this committee has seen any type of campaign, media attention. We receive thousands and thousands of letters every year of people wanting to say what for them leads to peace,” the chairman of the Norwegian Nobel committee, Jørgen Watne Frydnes, said. 

“This committee sits in a room filled with the portraits of all laureates, and that room is filled with both courage and integrity,” Mr.  Watne Frydnes continued. “So we base only our decision on the work and the will of Alfred Nobel.”

The five-member Nobel committee that names winners is appointed by Norway’s parliament. The peace prize also comes with an 11 million Swedish Krona payout. That’s worth more than $1.15 million.

Last year’s winner was Nihon Hidankyo for his efforts to achieve a world free of nuclear weapons.

The first Nobel prize was awarded in 1901. Presidents or former presidents who have been awarded the prize include Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, Jimmy Carter, and Barack Obama. Vice President Al Gore has also been awarded a Nobel peace prize.


The New York Sun

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