Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado dedicated her Nobel Peace Prize on Friday to the Venezuelan people, as well as US President Donald Trump, for his “decisive support” of her country’s pro-democracy movements.
“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 hiding in Venezuela for a year, following accusations that dictatorial leftist President Nicolas Maduro stole elections.
Machado, who was forbidden from running in the election, instead campaigned for her replacement, ex-diplomat Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia, who many in the international community believe is the genuine winner.
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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 supported Trump’s continuous campaign of military pressure on Maduro, which includes a significant US naval deployment near Venezuela, as a “necessary measure” toward a democratic transition in Venezuela.
Karoline Leavitt, White House Press Secretary, shared Machado’s post honoring her Nobel Prize to Trump on her X account.
Several other opposition leaders, including two-time former presidential candidate Henrique Capriles, congratulated Machado on her win.
“May this recognition be another boost to achieve peace and for our Venezuela to leave behind the suffering and recover the freedom and democracy for which it has fought for so many years,” Capriles wrote on X.
