{"id":71545,"date":"2025-10-10T11:01:33","date_gmt":"2025-10-10T11:01:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/71545\/"},"modified":"2025-10-10T11:01:33","modified_gmt":"2025-10-10T11:01:33","slug":"maria-corina-machado-wins-this-years-nobel-peace-prize-despite-trump-lobbying-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/71545\/","title":{"rendered":"Mar\u00eda Corina Machado wins this year\u2019s Nobel Peace Prize despite Trump lobbying \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mar\u00eda Corina Machado, a Venezuelan politician and democracy campaigner, has been named as the winner of the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize<\/a> at a ceremony in Norway<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The winner was announced in a year overshadowed by a months-long campaign by US president Donald Trump<\/a> to win what is arguably the world\u2019s most prestigious award.<\/p>\n

Norwegian Nobel committee chairman J\u00f8rgen Watne Frydnes commended Ms Machado as a \u201cbrave and committed champion of peace\u201d who \u201ckeeps the flame of democracy burning during a growing darkness\u201d.<\/p>\n

Mr Trump<\/a> has been outspoken about his desire for a prize won by four of his predecessors \u2013 Barack Obama<\/a> in 2009, Jimmy Carter<\/a> in 2002, Woodrow Wilson in 1919 and Theodore Roosevelt in 1906. <\/p>\n

All but Mr Carter won the award while in office, with Mr Obama named laureate less than eight months after taking office \u2013 the same position Mr Trump is in now.<\/p>\n

But when the chairman of the Norwegian Nobel Committee read out the name of Ms Machado<\/a> on Friday morning, there was little surprise that Mr Trump\u2019s name was absent.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Mar\u00eda Corina Machado: the \u2018iron lady\u2019 of Venezuela Opens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Insiders said the award followed a year-long, deliberative process, during which candidates\u2019 strengths and weaknesses were debated by the five-strong committee.<\/p>\n

Nominations for the prize had to reach the committee by January 31st. Committee members were also able to make nominations but they had to be made by the committee\u2019s first meeting in February.<\/p>\n

After that, the committee met roughly once a month. It is understood that decisions tend to be taken in August or in September, but it can also be later, as was the case this year.<\/p>\n

The Nobel committee\u2019s citation said Ms Machado, leader of the democracy movement in Venezuela, was \u201cone of the most extraordinary examples of civilian courage in Latin America in recent times\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cMs Machado has been a key, unifying figure in a political opposition that was once deeply divided \u2013 an opposition that found common ground in the demand for free elections and representative government,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is precisely what lies at the heart of democracy: our shared willingness to defend the principles of popular rule, even though we disagree. At a time when democracy is under threat, it is more important than ever to defend this common ground.\u201d<\/p>\n

A conservative former member of the national assembly, Ms Machado is credited with corralling Venezuela\u2019s fractious opposition behind her and captivating a broad swath of the electorate with a promise of sweeping government change.<\/p>\n

Even former critics say her movement is the country\u2019s most important since the one built by Hugo Ch\u00e1vez, founder of Venezuela\u2019s 25-year-old socialist project<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Under its current president, Nicol\u00e1s Maduro\u2019s, Venezuela has witnessed an extraordinary economic contraction \u2013 the largest outside of war in at least 50 years, economists say. While the economy has improved slightly in recent years, millions of people still cannot afford enough food or critical medications.<\/p>\n

While Mr Trump may be disappointed with the news, the Nobel committee has said it is used to working under pressure from people, or their supporters, who say they deserve the prize.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll politicians want to win the Nobel Peace Prize,\u201d Mr Frydnes, the Nobel committee leader, told Reuters.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe hope the ideals underpinned by the Nobel Peace Prize are something that all political leaders should strive for … We notice the attention, both in the United States and around the world, but outside from that, we work just the same way as we always do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr Trump announced the conclusion of a ceasefire and hostage deal this week, under the first phase of his initiative to end the war in Gaza.<\/p>\n

But according to Norwegian daily VG the committee took its decision on Monday \u2013 before the announcement of the deal \u2013 and even if its five members had known about it before making their choice for this year\u2019s award, it is unlikely they would have rushed into a decision they usually spend months debating.<\/p>\n

Experienced Nobel-watchers argued that a win for Mr Trump was extremely unlikely, citing what they saw as his efforts to dismantle the post-second world War international world order the Nobel committee cherishes.<\/p>\n

The foundation that the five-strong Norwegian Nobel Committee follows as its basis for decisions is the 1895 will of Swedish industrialist Alfred Nobel, which established the peace prize alongside those for literature, chemistry, physics and medicine.<\/p>\n

Nina Graeger, head of the Peace Research Institute Oslo, said Mr Trump withdrawing the US from the World Health Organisation and the 2015 Paris climate accords, and his trade war with allies, went against the spirit of Nobel\u2019s will.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you look at Alfred Nobel\u2019s will, it emphasises three areas: one is the achievements regarding peace: brokering a peace deal,\u201d she said. \u201cThe other is to work and promote disarmament and the third is to promote international co-operation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asle Sveen, a historian of the award, cited Mr Trump\u2019s attempted rapprochement with Russian president Vladimir Putin, among other reasons.<\/p>\n

\u201cHis admiration of dictators counts also against him,\u201d Mr Sveen said. \u201cThis goes against Alfred Nobel\u2019s will.\u201d <\/p>\n

The peace prize is the only one of the annual Nobel prizes to be awarded in Oslo, Norway.<\/p>\n

Four of the other prizes have already been awarded in the Swedish capital, Stockholm, this week \u2013 in medicine on Monday, physics on Tuesday, chemistry on Wednesday and literature on Thursday.<\/p>\n

The winner of the prize in economics will be announced on Monday. \u2013 Reuters<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mar\u00eda Corina Machado, a Venezuelan politician and democracy campaigner, has been named as the winner of the 2025…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":71546,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[969,42,47870,43,45745,298,40,38,41,39],"class_list":{"0":"post-71545","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-donald-trump","9":"tag-headlines","10":"tag-jimmy-carter","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-nobel-prize","13":"tag-norway","14":"tag-top-news","15":"tag-top-stories","16":"tag-topnews","17":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71545","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=71545"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71545\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/71546"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=71545"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=71545"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=71545"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}