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When Trump called Nobel winner Maria Corina Machado a ‘freedom fighter’
Maria Corina Machado's Nobel Peace Prize win has led to Donald Trump missing out on the prestigious award that he has been long lobbying for.
Venezuela's opposition leader and democracy activist Maria Corina Machado was awarded the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize on Friday, resulting in a snub to US President Donald Trump, who has been lobbying for himself to receive the prestigious award.
Machado's win is expected to spark a row in the US, especially in the White House, which has already expressed discontent with the Nobel Committee.
"Once again, the Nobel Committee has proved they place politics over peace," the White House said in a statement. It also said that despite not winning the Peace Prize, Trump will "continue making peace deals, ending wars, and saving lives".
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White House Director of Communications posted on X, "He (Trump) 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."
Donald Trump has yet to react to Maria Corina Machado's Nobel win.
However, the US President has batted for Machado and her allies' movement for democracy in the past.
‘These freedom fighters…’
Back in January this year, when Machado was briefly detained during an anti-government protest against Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela's Caracas, Trump called for her safety.
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Venezuela's opposition, as well as the US, had reportedly said that Maduro stole the 2024 presidential election, arguing that Edumundo González, backed by Machado, was the real winner.
Just days before his Presidential Inauguration, Donald Trump said in a post on Truth Social dated January 10, "Venezuelan democracy activist Maria Corina Machado and President-elect Gonzalez are peacefully expressing the voices and the WILL of the Venezuelan people with hundreds of thousands of people demonstrating against the regime. The great Venezuelan American community in the United States overwhelmingly support a free Venezuela, and strongly supported me. These freedom fighters should not be harmed, and MUST stay SAFE and ALIVE!"
Maria Corina Machado was released shortly after her detention. Her party, Vente Venezuela, had posted on X that she was "violently intercepted as she left the gathering", adding that "regime troops shot at the motorcycles that were transporting her", The New York Times reported at the time.
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January's anti-government protests were Machado's first public appearance since August 2024, when she had gone into hiding amid threats of arrest from Maduro's regime.
Machado's political aide, Magalli Meda, had alleged that during her brief detention, Machado "was forced to record several videos and was later released".
What Maria Corina said on Nobel Win
Norwegian Nobel Institute's director, Kristian Berg Harpviken, called Maria Corina to inform her that she will be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize this year.
An emotional Machado told Harpviken, "Oh my God, I have no words." However, she said that she does not "deserve" the award as she is just one person.
"Thank you, but I hope you understand, this is a movement. This is the achievement of the whole society. I'm just one person. I certainly do not deserve this," she said.
