The 2025 Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded to 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,” the Nobel Committee said.
The Nobel Committee said the Venezuelan politician and industrial engineer who is currently the opposition leader in Venezuela "a brave and committed champion of peace."
"Maria Corina Machado has led the struggle for democracy in the face of ever-expanding authoritarianism in Venezuela. Ms Machado studied engineering and finance, and had a short career in business," the Nobel Committee said. "In 1992 she established the Atenea Foundation, which works to benefit street children in Caracas."
The announcement was made on Friday morning, but the actual award ceremony will take place on Dec. 10, in Oslo, Norway.
Last year, Nihon Hidankyo, a Japanese anti-nuclear weapons group, won the Nobel Peace Prize for their work toward the abolition of nuclear weapons, with the Norwegian Nobel Committee saying that the testimony of the Hibakusha, who are the survivors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, is unique in this larger context and that their perspective helps to "generate and consolidate widespread opposition to nuclear weapons around the world by drawing on personal stories, creating educational campaigns based on their own experience, and issuing urgent warnings against the spread and use of nuclear weapons."
There were 338 candidates nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize for 2025, of which 244 were individuals and 94 were organizations. This is a significant increase from last year when there were 286 nominees. The highest number of nominees to date was in 2016 when there were 376 candidates.
The list of nominees for the Nobel Peace Prize is released 50 years after the prize is awarded, in accordance with the statues of the Nobel Foundation.
