Overview

• Announced in Oslo, the prize cited Machado’s advocacy of democratic rights and highlighted that she has spent the past year in hiding while choosing to remain in Venezuela despite threats.
• Chair Jørgen Watne Frydnes praised her role in reviving a divided opposition and said Venezuela has shifted into an authoritarian state marked by repression and a deep humanitarian crisis.
• Barred from running in 2024, Machado backed Edmundo González Urrutia as the opposition candidate; he later went into exile in Spain after authorities declared Nicolás Maduro the winner.
• The Nobel Institute informed Machado by phone just before the public announcement, and her allies shared recordings of her saying she was in shock upon hearing the news.
• Leaders including Ursula von der Leyen and Friedrich Merz publicly congratulated her, and the committee said it is uncertain whether she can travel to Oslo for the December 10 ceremony.