Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado was awarded the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize on Friday, prompting outrage from Republicans over the perceived snub of President Donald Trump.
Machado, known as Venezuela’s “Iron Lady,” received the prize 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,” the Norwegian Nobel Committee said in a statement, praising her as a “brave and committed champion of peace” and “a woman who keeps the flame of democracy burning amid a growing darkness.”
Machado, who is in an undisclosed location for security reasons, according to The Washington Post, was shocked by the announcement.
“Oh my God … I have no words,” she said in a video of the call posted to social media.
The announcement came after months of pressure from Trump, who claims to have ended eight wars since returning to office, to receive the prize that former President Barack Obama was awarded in his first year in office.
“He got the prize for doing nothing,” Trump said of Obama on Thursday. “They gave it to Obama for doing absolutely nothing but destroying our country.”
Although Trump received multiple nominations for the prize, many of them came in after the Feb. 1 deadline, which was less than two weeks after he was inaugurated, according to the Associated Press.
The White House slammed the perceived snub, accusing the Nobel committee of placing “politics over peace.”
“President Trump will continue making peace deals, ending wars and saving lives,” White House communications director Steven Cheung wrote on X. “He has the heart of a humanitarian, and there will never be anyone like him who can move mountains with the sheer force of his will.”
House Republican Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., claimed that people “even on the left” were lobbying for Trump to receive the prize.
“If Nobel wants to restore what used to be a once-dignified prize, they can restore their credibility by awarding President Trump the Nobel Peace Prize. He’s earned it,” he told Fox Business on Friday.
Host Maria Bartiromo questioned whether the reason Trump did not win is “because you had to get the application in before Jan. 31, and that was only 11 days into his term.”
“Look, they can play technicalities. They gave it to Barack Obama for just getting elected,” Scalise replied, claiming that “nobody has done more in decades to bring peace to the world than Donald Trump.”
Trump, just two weeks before the announcement, praised Machado on Truth Social, posting photos of her leading a rally against the Maduro regime.
“The great Venezuelan American community in the United States overwhelmingly support a free Venezuela, and strongly supported me,” he wrote. “These freedom fighters should not be harmed, and MUST stay SAFE and ALIVE!”
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