Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, who lives in hiding, won the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday for fighting dictatorship in her country.
Machado, 58, won "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 its citation.
"When authoritarians seize power, it is crucial to recognise courageous defenders of freedom who rise and resist," the committee added.
The committee chose to focus on Venezuela in a year dominated by US President Donald Trump's repeated public statements that he deserves the Nobel Peace Prize.
Ahead of the announcement, experts on the award had said Trump would not win it as he is dismantling the international world order the Nobel committee cherishes.
Machado becomes the 20th woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize, of the 112 individuals who have been honoured.
Her ally, Edmundo Gonzalez, who lives in exile in Spain, posted video of himself speaking by phone with Machado.
"I am in shock," she said, adding, "I cannot believe it."
Gonzalez celebrated Machado’s Nobel win in a post on X, calling it a "very well-deserved recognition for the long fight of a woman and of a whole people for our freedom and democracy."
'We will prevail'
Machado was informed about the decision just minutes before the Norwegian Nobel Committee announced the winner at a press conference in Oslo.
In a phone conversation with Kristian Berg Harpviken, director of the Nobel Institute and secretary of the Nobel Committee, a shocked Machado repeated that it was "the Venezuelan people" who had won the coveted prize.
"We're not there yet. We're working very hard to achieve it, but I'm sure that we will prevail," she told Harpviken.
In a video of the call posted on X by the Nobel Foundation, Harpviken could be seen trying to hold back tears, his voice cracking as he broke the news to her, waking her in the middle of the night.
"This is certainly the biggest recognition to our people that certainly deserve it," she said, adding: "I am just, you know, one person. I certainly do not deserve this."
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro's government routinely targeted its real or perceived opponents ahead of last year’s presidential election.
Machado was set to run against Maduro, but the government disqualified her and Gonzalez took her place.
The election results announced by the Electoral Council sparked protests across the country to which the government responded with force, leaving more than 20 people dead.
Machado went into hiding and has not been seen in public since January.
In an interview with FRANCE 24 last year, she said: "Every day that goes by, Maduro is weaker and weaker, and we are going to prevail [in] our fight.
White House says prize places 'politics over peace'
The White House on Friday criticised the Nobel Prize committee's decision to award the peace prize to Machado instead of Trump.
"The Nobel Committee proved they place politics over peace," White House spokesperson Steven Cheung said in a post on X.
"President Trump will continue making peace deals, ending wars, and saving lives. He has the heart of a humanitarian, and there will never be anyone like him who can move mountains with thesheer force of his will," Cheung said.
The US president is a fierce critic of Venezuela's Maduro. Over the past few months, the US has struck several vessels allegedly carrying drugs off the coast of Venezuela in recent weeks.
"I think the main takeaway is that the committee is again demonstrating its independence, that they wouldn't be swayed by popular opinions or political leaders to award the prize," said Halvard Leira, research director at the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs.
"The democratic opposition of Venezuela is something that the US has been eager to support. So, in that sense, it would be hard for anyone to constitute this as an insult to Trump."
Machado is a past recipient of the Council of Europe's Vaclav Havel Human Rights Prize, named after the late Czech dissident, playwright and former president.
She was one of 338 candidates for the Nobel, among them 244 individuals and 94 organisations.
The Nobel Peace Prize, worth 11 million Swedish crowns, or about $1.2 million, is due to be presented in Oslo on December 10, the anniversary of the death of Swedish industrialist Alfred Nobel, who founded the awards in his 1895 will.
(FRANCE 24 with Reuters, AFP and AP)
