Machado speaks about Venezuela on her own terms – the Nobel Peace Prize 2025
Is peace synonymous with the lack of war, and will the Nobel Peace Prize bring about a real change in Venezuela? How to interpret the appearance of Donald Trump in the Nobel History?
Dr Anna Cichecka from the Institute of Sociology of the University of Wrocław talks about different definitions of peace and about the symbolic value of the Nobel Peace Prize, which was awarded this year to a Venezuelan politician, Maria Corina Machado.
Dr Anna Cichecka:
-It is worth to stop and think what “peace” is in the case of Venezuela. In the situation of a country where authoritarianism controls democratic institutions, peace does not mean a lack of war, but rather, the real chance for its citizens to take part in the country’s public life – without repression, censorship, and social exclusion. In such context, peace is a right to vote. That is why the honouring of Maria Corina Machado can be read as a signal signifying that democracy itself is becoming a category of peace.
However, Machado is an ambivalent figure, since she comes from the establishment. Her story of freedom brings disputes between the elitist biography and the speech of social mobilisation. Venezuelan movements have been emphasising for years that a real change cannot be made without acknowledging the experiences of groups pushed to the margins of society by the economy and politics. The dissonance between the figure of an oppositionist leader and the experiences of people from the outskirts of society makes this year’s choice an especially interesting one. It is also worth noting that having a female leading voice in the resistance narrative has a significant symbolic meaning in regions where political leadership has been mainly viewed as masculine-oriented.
In such cases, the Nobel Prize serves as a political reflector, which serves to protect and strengthen the international recognisability. It can also, however, be used as a tool to apply pressure, meaning that it is a double-edged sword. Machado is becoming a symbol of the resistance, which can no longer be easily silenced. At the same time, she enters a sphere of global expectations. Her mention of Donald Trump is a deliberate one, recognised as a resounding, calculated act, made to strengthen her political standing. At the same time, it brings a considerable risk, with people wondering where the local battle for democracy ends, and where the game of political influence begins. Does the West really need Machado as a symbol, or is she using the global political scene to speak about Venezuela on her own terms?
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Dr Anna Cichecka – sociologist, politologist and Africanist. Assistant professor in the Institute of Sociology of the University of Wrocław. Her research topics include politics and government in post-colonial Africa, women’s movements and climate justice in the context of global relations between the North and Africa.
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Translated by Michał Zajączkowski (student of English Studies at the University of Wrocław) as part of the translation practice.
Date of publication: 17.10.2025
Added by: E.K.
