Nobel peace prize winner Maria Corina Machado dedicates award to Trump after he misses out

Venezuelan opposition leader and the newly awarded Nobel Peace prize winner has dedicated her win to Donald Trump for his “decisive support” in her country’s fight for democracy.

Maria Corina Machado said the award represents the “struggle of all Venezuelans” and serves as a boost in their mission to “conquer Freedom”. Her praise for Trump comes after the U.S. president missed out on the award that he has long hoped to win, when the winner was revealed Friday.

In a post on social media site X, she said: “We are on the threshold of victory, and today, more than ever, we count on President Trump, the people of the United States, the peoples of Latin America, and the democratic nations of the world as our principal allies to achieve Freedom and democracy.

“I dedicate this prize to the suffering people of Venezuela and to President Trump for his decisive support of our cause.”

Machado, a Conservative politician, was awarded the prize for her work in “promoting democractic rights”.

She has been forced to remain in hiding in the wake of socialist Nicolás Maduro’s recent election victory. Maduro has been accused of breaking human rights laws by a number of global watchdogs due to allegations of torture, corruption and killings.

Since Trump’s reelection, Machado has been an outspoken supporter of the U.S. president, describing him as a “visionary” and the “biggest opportunity we’ve ever had” for regime change in Venezuela.

She has previously claimed to be in close contact with Trump’s secretary of state Marco Rubio, who is the son of Cuban refugees.

Since his first term in office, Trump has never shied away from his ambition to secure the Nobel Peace prize, and had hoped his role in the Israel-Hamas ceasefire agreement could finally secure him the highly-coveted award.

During a press conference in the Oval Office on Friday, the president said: “The person who actually got the Nobel Prize called today, called me and said, I'm accepting this in honor of you, because you really deserved it. A very nice thing to do.”

He then assured reporters that he didn’t demand the award from Machado.

“I didn't say ‘then give it to me,’ though, I think she might have,” Trump said. “She was very nice. And I've been, you know, I've been helping her along the way. She — they need a lot of help in Venezuela, it's a basic disaster.”

Despite several MAGA supporters and his own son calling for him to be awarded the prize, Trump gave a cautious answer when asked about his chances Wednesday.

“I have no idea,” he answered her. “I mean, look, I did settle — Marco [Rubio] will tell you — we did settle seven wars. We’re close to settling an eighth, and I think we’ll end up settling the Russia situation, which is horrible... I think we’ll settle that, so... I don’t think anybody in history has settled that many, but perhaps they’ll find a reason not to give it to me.”

Five previous American presidents have been awarded the prize for their efforts in ensuring democracy, including Theodore Roosevelt (1906), Woodrow Wilson (1919), Jimmy Carter (2002), and Barack Obama (2009).