
Opposition leader Maria Corina Machado was awarded the Nobel 'Peace' Prize, October 10, 2025. Photo: Leonardo Fernandez Viloria/Reuters.

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Opposition leader Maria Corina Machado was awarded the Nobel 'Peace' Prize, October 10, 2025. Photo: Leonardo Fernandez Viloria/Reuters.
By Ricardo Vaz – Oct 23, 2025
The awarding of the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize to Venezuelan far-right leader MarĂa Corina Machado took nearly everyone by surprise (with the exception of insiders who apparently used advance knowledge to profit on betting marketsâNew York Times, 10/10/25).
The Nobel Committee justified the award on the basis of Machadoâs âtireless work promoting democratic rightsâ and âher struggle to achieve a just and peaceful transition from dictatorship to democracy.â However, Machadoâs track record paints a very different picture (Sovereign Media, 10/11/25; Venezuelanalysis, 7/8/24).

Rather than scrutinize the opposition politicianâs credentials, the media establishment seized the opportunity to whitewash the most unpeaceful elements in her background in order to advance its cynical proâregime change agenda targeting Venezuelaâs socialist government (FAIR.org, 2/12/25, 1/11/23, 6/13/22, 4/15/20). Not coincidentally, Machadoâs award coincided with an escalation of US military threats against Venezuela, meaning that corporate pundits used a âpeaceâ prize as a platform for war propaganda.
Whitewashed profiles
NYT: A Nobel Peace Prize Brings Hope and Scrutiny to Democratic Struggle
The New York Times (10/16/25) was one of the few outlets to acknowledge the tension between the Nobel Committee presenting Machado as a supporter of a âpeaceful transitionâ in Venezuela and her âcalls for a military insurrection and unconditional support for President Trumpâs military strikesâ against Venezuelan boats.
The Nobel Prize meant corporate outlets had to give their readers an idea of Machadoâs political trajectory. And though some had profile pieces (Reuters, 10/10/25; New York Times, 10/10/25), there was a concerted effort to conceal the most unsavory elements. The Financial Times (10/10/25) euphemistically stated that Machado âenter[ed] politics in opposition to Hugo ChĂĄvezââpresident of Venezuela from 1999 through 2013âwhile the Guardian (10/10/25) summed up that she has been âinvolved in politics for more than two decades.â
No establishment outlet mentioned Machadoâs first relevant political action: supporting the short-lived April 2002 coup against the ChĂĄvez government, and signing the infamous âCarmona Decree.â In one fell swoop, this decree did away with all democratically elected institutions, annulled the 1999 Constitution, and established a de facto dictatorship headed by the leader of Venezuelaâs corporate business lobby. Machado later denied signing the decree, though her name appeared on a list published by Venezuelan newspaper El Nacional.

Looking past the undemocratic debut, establishment journalists instead started the story with the mid-2002 creation of SĂşmate, calling it an NGO dedicated to election monitoring or transparency (Bloomberg, 10/10/25; Washington Post, 10/10/25; Reuters, 10/10/25; New York Times, 10/10/25). Yet they did not mention that this alleged quest to safeguard democracy was funded by the US, or that the opposition made unfounded fraud claims after failing to unseat ChĂĄvez in a 2004 recall referendum (Venezuelanalysis, 8/21/04, 9/9/04).
Machadoâs second act was also the antithesis of peace and democracy, as the opposition politician led the 2014 âLa Salidaâ (âThe Exitâ) campaign of street violence to overthrow the NicolĂĄs Maduro administration, leaving dozens dead. That same year, in order to denounce the Venezuelan government, she acted as an âalternate ambassadorâ for Panama at a meeting of the Organization of American States (BBC, 3/25/15). The stunt led to Machado losing her parliamentary seat.
Yet instead of scrutinizing the new laureateâs less-than-peaceful actions, corporate outlets chose to ignore or misrepresent them as âdenouncing the regimeâs abusesâ (Washington Post, 10/10/25), âparticipating in anti-regime protestsâ (New York Times, 10/10/25) or âallegations sheâd tried to foment a coupâ (Bloomberg, 10/10/25). Only the Associated Press (10/10/25) offered a minimal concession that the Machado-led âanti-government protestsâŚat times turned violent.â
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Another key aspect of the opposition operatorâs political career has been outspoken advocacy for US sanctions, which have caused economic devastation and led to tens of thousands of deaths (CEPR, 4/25/19). But Western media ignored Machadoâs lobbying for collective punishment of the Venezuelan peopleâwith the New York Times (10/16/25) a notable exception.
The US-backed figure has also made no secret of her plans to repress her political opponents. Machado is on the record making thinly veiled threats to âeradicate socialism,â and pledging to âneutralizeâ destabilizing groups should she eventually take power. Factoring in the Venezuelan far rightâs history of racist violence (Venezuelanalysis, 3/28/14, 7/30/17), it is not unreasonable to predict a dirty war against Chavistas if Machado ever reached Miraflores.
The company you keep
Reuters: Israel says Venezuela’s Machado voices support in call to Netanyahu
Reuters (10/17/25) was the only major outlet to highlight Machadoâs support for the genocidal Israeli government.
The reporting on the Nobel Peace Prize plainly described Machado as belonging to the Venezuelan opposition, but few outlets bothered to disclose her political views, apart from euphemistically labeling her a âconservativeâ (New York Times, 10/10/25; Guardian, 10/10/25) or a supporter of âeconomic liberalismâ (New York Times, 10/16/25; Reuters, 10/10/25).

Machado has heaped praise on far-right former presidents Ălvaro Uribe of Colombia, who was responsible for serious human rights violations, and Brazilâs Jair Bolsonaro, who tried to foment a coup.
In February, Machado sent a video message during a âPatriots for Europeâ summit, calling for far-right leadersâ support and openly referring to them as âallies.â The high-profile gathering featured neo-fascist parties like Spainâs Vox, Italyâs Lega and Franceâs Rassemblement National (RN). The same media establishment that paints the likes of Hungaryâs Viktor Orban as a threat to democracy (Guardian, 2/7/25; NPR, 4/22/25) chose to ignore Machadoâs quite open alignment with his politics.
But more damning is the complete erasure of Machadoâs outspoken support for Israel, even amidst the recent genocide. Venezuelaâs far-right leader has repeatedly praised Israelâs defense of âWestern valuesâ and âfreedom,â while her party established an alliance with Benjamin Netanyahuâs Likud in 2020. In 2018, Machado penned a letter to the Israeli prime minister, asking him to lead a foreign intervention to âdismantle the criminal Venezuelan regime.â
At a time when the US/Israeli genocide in Palestine has sparked outrage around the world, no corporate outlet found it relevant to mention that this yearâs âpeaceâ laureate did not utter a single word of condemnation. On the contrary, according to Netanyahu himself, Machado told the prime minister she âappreciatesâ his âresoluteâ actions in a recent congratulatory phone call. Unsurprisingly, only Reuters (10/17/25) briefly reported on the Nobel laureateâs war criminal ally.
Beating the war drums
Sovereign Media: Nobel âPeaceâ Prize Descends Further Into Farce With Machado Award
Sovereign Media (10/11/25) noted Machadoâs support for âsanctions that have caused tens of thousands of deaths since 2017â and âon-the-record requests for a foreign military intervention.â
The media establishmentâs careful whitewashing of Machadoâs undemocratic past and genocidal allies is particularly damning, given the present context of a US military buildup and overt threats against Venezuela. One of the US-backed politicianâs most persistent habits has been calling for a foreign intervention against her country (Sovereign Media, 10/11/25).

In the wake of her peace prize, Machado has wasted no time in lobbying for violent regime change. In a BBC interview (10/11/25), she argued that Venezuela needs to be âliberatedâ via a âcoordination of internal and external forces,â an expression she also used in an interview with El PaĂs (10/10/25).
Borrowing a page from US administrationâs book of redefining concepts such as âimminent threatâ or âcivilian,â Machado bombastically claimed that the Maduro government âhas declared a warâ against the Venezuelan people, and urged Trump to help her side âwinâ this war (BBC, 10/11/25; Infobae, 10/11/25; CNN, 10/15/25). The opposition leader has latched onto the administrationâs ânarcoterrorismâ fairy tale that has been debunked over the years (FAIR.org, 9/24/19; Venezuelanalysis, 9/2/25), just like she supported the White Houseâs Tren de Aragua narrative, even if it meant a gruesome crackdown against Venezuelan migrants.
Machado has gone as far as to cheerlead the Trump administration extrajudicially executing her fellow citizens, arguing that the lethal US strikes in the Caribbean, which have killed at least 30 people, are âsaving lives, not only Venezuelan lives, but also life of American peopleâ (Daily Beast, 10/10/25).
But it is not just Machado using her new platform to promote US military intervention. The Washington Post editorial board (10/10/25) openly expressed that US interests would be âbetter servedâ with a âreliable American partnerâ like Machado. True to form, the Wall Street Journal (10/10/25, 10/12/25) also used Machadoâs award to double down on calls for Trump to bomb Venezuela in the name of âfreedomâ and âdemocracy.â
The warmonger lineup was complete with the New York Timesâ Bret Stephens (10/10/25), who never needs excuses to endorse the murder of Venezuelans in the name of US interests (FAIR.org, 2/12/25). In this case, Stephens claimed that regime change is the only option to address the âcatastrophe of Chavismo,â even if it means âfull-scale military confrontation.â
The Nobel Peace Prize has long lost any credibility when it comes to upholding actual peace. With Machadoâs award, it followed a recent tradition of aligning itself with Western foreign policy. And even more predictable was the corporate media seizing the opportunity to advance its war and regime-change propaganda against Venezuela.
(FAIR)

Ricardo Vaz is a political analyst and editor at Venezuelanalysis.com