The White House has responded after the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado instead of President Donald Trump.
The Nobel Committee proved they place politics over peace, said Steven Cheung, White House Director of Communication.
The Nobel Committee announced Machado as the prize’s 2025 winner on Friday. She was honoured 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, said Jorgen Watne Frydnes, the chair of the Norwegian Nobel Committee in Oslo.
The announcement came as Israel’s military declared the Gaza ceasefire agreement had now come into effect, following a vote in the cabinet last night.
The US President’s name, heavily floated in the media in recent weeks, did not make the final cut.
President Trump will continue making peace deals around the world, ending wars, and saving lives, Cheung added.
He 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.
In the months leading up to the decision, Trump had vigorously pitched himself as a peacemaker. He offered himself as a bridge builder, pointed to his 20-point Gaza peace plan, and repeatedly insisted he had ended multiple wars.
The two-time US President has been on a not-so-subtle Nobel Prize campaign since his first term in office when he claimed many people thought he had earned it.
Speculation he could win the award this year began after he brokered the historic peace agreement between Israel and Hamas to end the two-year war in Gaza.
Both sides have agreed to the first phase of Trump’s plan to pause fighting and release hostages, a deal that could open the way to ending a brutal conflict that has killed tens of thousands of people and unleashed a humanitarian catastrophe.
The Nobel Peace Committee’s chairman was quizzed by reporters about the impact of Trump’s campaign to win the distinguished prize, and the mounting speculation surrounding whether he would be successful.
Frydnes responded diplomatically, batting the question away.
In the long history of the Nobel Peace Prize, this committee has seen every type of campaign, he said. We receive thousands and thousands of letters every year, of people wanting to say what, for them, leads to peace.
This committee sits in a room filled with the portraits of all laureates and that room is filled with courage and integrity.
We base our decision only on the work and the will of Alfred Nobel, he said.
Machado was lauded for being a key, unifying figure in a political opposition that was once deeply divided, an opposition that found common ground in the demand for free elections and representative government, said Frydnes.
In the past year, Miss Machado has been forced to live in hiding. Despite serious threats against her life, she has remained in the country, a choice that has inspired millions.
When authoritarians seize power, it is crucial to recognise courageous defenders of freedom who rise and resist, he said.
Nicolás 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. Edmundo González took her place. He had never run for office before.
The lead-up to the election saw widespread repression including disqualifications, arrests and human rights violations.
The crackdown on dissent only increased after the country’s National Electoral Council, which is stacked with Maduro loyalists, declared him the winner despite credible evidence to the contrary.
The US president emerged unsuccessful following a series of obstacles, including that nominations for this year’s award, of which there were 338, closed at the end of January, not long after Trump returned to the White House. The prize honours actions carried out in 2024, which was the year in which he was elected but not yet in office.
However, over the course of his two terms in the Oval Office Trump had been nominated for the award more than 10 times, by Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu, Cambodia’s Prime Minister Hun Manet, a Ukrainian politician, as well as legislators from the US, Sweden, and Norway.
But a nomination alone does not guarantee someone will be a candidate and the prize committee does not publish a list of candidates before the winner is announced.
It is not clear if any of Trump’s nominations came before the January deadline.
The Nobel Peace Prize, established in 1895 by Swedish inventor Alfred Nobel, is one of the world’s most prestigious awards. Past recipients include figures such as Nelson Mandela, Malala Yousafzai, and Barack Obama, who received the award in 2009 during his first year as US president.
Trump has long expressed his desire to win the prize, frequently mentioning it in speeches and interviews. During his first term, he suggested he deserved the award for his efforts to reduce tensions on the Korean Peninsula through meetings with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
The decision to honour Machado highlights the committee’s focus on grassroots democracy movements and opposition to authoritarian regimes. Venezuela has been in political and economic turmoil for years under Maduro’s leadership, with millions fleeing the country amid hyperinflation, food shortages and political repression.
Machado’s recognition comes at a time when democratic institutions in Latin America face mounting pressures from populist and authoritarian leaders. Her courage in remaining in Venezuela despite threats to her safety has made her a symbol of resistance for many across the region.
The White House’s sharp response to the decision reflects Trump’s continued frustration at not receiving the award despite his high-profile diplomatic initiatives, particularly the Gaza ceasefire agreement which he has repeatedly cited as evidence of his peacemaking credentials.
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