Venezuelan opposition leader praised Trump in X post following win

Venezuelan opposition leader and newly minted Nobel Peace Prize winner María Corina Machado dedicated the award on Friday to both President Donald Trump and the "suffering people of Venezuela."

Machado, a leading figure in the resistance against Venezuela’s ruling party, took to X to acknowledge the honor and to praise Trump for his support.

"This recognition of the struggle of all Venezuelans is a boost to conclude our task: to conquer Freedom," Machado 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.

Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado gestures at a protest ahead of the Friday inauguration of President Nicolás Maduro for his third term, in Caracas, Venezuela January 9, 2025. (Maxwell Briceno/REUTERS)

She added, "I dedicate this prize to the suffering people of Venezuela and to President Trump for his decisive support of our cause!"

Machado has previously been outspoken in her support for the Trump administration’s actions against Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro's regime and the country's narco-trafficking network.

Last month, following reports that a U.S. strike killed 11 alleged Tren de Aragua narco-terrorists transporting drugs from Venezuela, Machado appeared on "Fox & Friends" to discuss Maduro’s leadership, saying it was time for him "to go."

U.S. President Donald Trump pumps his first as he waits to welcome Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House on September 29, 2025, in Washington, DC. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)

"On behalf of the Venezuelan people, I want to tell you how grateful we are to President Trump and the administration for addressing the tragedy that Venezuela is going through," Machado said at the time. " … Maduro has turned Venezuela into the biggest threat to the national security of the U.S. and the stability of the region."

Trump has also been a vocal critic of Maduro, and the U.S. is among several countries that do not recognize Maduro’s government as legitimate, according to Reuters.

A Nobel medal is displayed during a ceremony in New York, Tuesday Dec. 8, 2020. (Angela Weiss/Pool Photo via AP, File)

In last year’s election, Machado rallied millions of Venezuelans to reject Maduro. She was described as a "brave and committed champion of peace" by Joergen Watne Frydnes, chair of the Norwegian Nobel Committee.

"She is receiving the Nobel Peace Prize 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," Frydnes said.

Trump was also among the contenders for this year’s Nobel Peace Prize, awarded annually to an individual or organization that has made significant contributions to global peace, in the wake of his brokering a historic deal between Israel and Hamas. (Fox News)