Why Maria Corina Machado's Nobel Peace Prize stirred a controversy

Maria Corina Machado

Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado was conferred with the Nobel Peach Prize for her efforts to restore democracy in the country. However, the win has sparked controversy and drawn criticism from political opponents, leftist commentators, and international rights groups.

Machado has been targeted for her alleged connections to conservative political movements in Europe and for being too close to right-wing US interests.

Despite the accolades, Machado’s award has ignited controversy, particularly over her past support for Israel. Critics have circulated her earlier statements backing Israel and Likud leader Benjamin Netanyahu, accusing her of aligning with actions perceived as harmful to Palestinians. Machado’s explicit solidarity with Israel following the October 2023 events has further fueled this debate.

Known in Venezuela, among her supporters, as the “Iron Lady”, Ms. Machado is the leader of the right-wing Vente Venezuela party. An industrial engineer with a Master’s degree in finance, she made her first foray into politics as a leader of a volunteer group called ‘Sumate’ in 2002.

The group sought to oppose the rule of then President Hugo Chavez by organising a referendum to recall Chavez from office. The repercussions from this activism, branded ‘treason’ by Chavistas — supporters of Chavez’s leftwing populist movement — led her to send her children abroad.

The Norwegian Nobel Committee has honoured the prominent Venezuelan Opposition leader Maria Corina Machado with the Nobel Prize for 2025 at a time when U.S.-Venezuela relations have hit a new low.

The honour to Machado, one of the strongest critics of controversial President Nicolas Maduro, comes at a time when the Donald Trump administration has upped the ante against Venezuela. It has ordered a major build-up of U.S. naval forces in the southern Caribbean Sea, outside Venezuela’s waters, leading to speculation that the ties are headed towards a military confrontation. Mr. Trump has, without basis, declared that Mr. Maduro’s government is a “narco-terror cartel” and Mr. Maduro a “terrorist-cartel leader”, with the naval mission targeting boats ostensibly operated by the cartel.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) on Friday condemned the Nobel Committee's "unconscionable" decision to award Machado, citing her "support" for Israel's Likud party and anti-Muslim fascism in Europe. "Ms Machado is a vocal supporter of Israel's racist Likud Party and earlier this year she delivered remarks at a conference of European fascists, including Geert Wilders and Marie Le Pen, which openly  called for a new Reconquista, referencing the ethnic cleansing of Spanish Muslims and Jews in the 1500s," CAIR said in a statement.