Maria Corina Machado’s 2025 Nobel Peace Prize win, announced October 10 in Oslo, was meant to crown her as Venezuela’s fearless democracy warrior. Instead, it’s unleashed a firestorm of criticism over her vocal support for Israel’s actions in Gaza and her calls for foreign intervention to topple Nicolas Maduro’s regime. Hailed by the Nobel Committee for uniting a splintered opposition and inspiring millions, Machado’s record is now under a microscope, with detractors branding her a divisive figure whose politics clash with the prize’s pacifist roots.

At 56, Machado is Venezuela’s opposition titan. Barred from the 2024 presidential race on trumped-up charges, she rallied a fractured movement, clinching a 90%-plus primary win in 2023 despite death threats and a brutal crackdown that killed dozens. Forced into hiding last year, her refusal to flee galvanized a nation battered by hyperinflation and mass exodus. The Nobel Committee lauded her as a “champion of peace,” with chair Jorgen Watne Frydnes praising her for wielding democracy’s tools to forge hope for a future where citizens’ rights reign supreme. Her defiance, they said, embodies resistance against authoritarianism’s chokehold.

But the applause barely faded before backlash erupted. Critics pounced on Machado’s pro-Israel rhetoric, digging up posts where she equated Venezuela’s fight with Israel’s and called the nation a “genuine ally of freedom.” Her 2020 pact with Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party, promising cooperation against “tyranny,” has been labeled complicity in what many call Gaza’s “genocide.” A Norwegian lawmaker blasted the Nobel pick as misaligned with its anti-war ethos, while a U.S.-based Muslim rights group called it “unconscionable,” demanding the Committee honor Gaza’s frontline heroes—journalists, medics, students—instead. Machado’s post-2023 Hamas attack solidarity, paired with her pledge to move Venezuela’s embassy to Jerusalem if elected, fuels claims she’s blind to Palestinian suffering, casting her as a darling of U.S. neocons.

Also Read: Trump Claims Nobel Winner Honoured Him for Peace Efforts

Her push for foreign intervention is equally radioactive. In 2018, Machado publicly urged leaders of Israel and Argentina to flex their “strength and influence” to dismantle Maduro’s “criminal” regime, tied to drugs and terror. By 2023, she boycotted talks with Maduro, insisting only external pressure—possibly military—could free Venezuela. This hawkish stance, echoing U.S.-backed regime changes, has alienated moderates and drawn fire from Latin American leftists, who see her as a pawn of Western meddling. “Peace shouldn’t reward warmongering,” one critic argued, painting her as a right-wing zealot draped in democratic ideals.

The drama took a bizarre turn when Machado dedicated her prize to U.S. President Donald Trump, calling him a “visionary” whose sanctions bolstered her cause. Trump, crowing online, hailed her as a fellow “fighter for freedom.” The White House, meanwhile, cried foul over the Nobel snubbing Trump’s claimed peacemaking wins, from Middle East deals to Ukraine truces, accusing Oslo of playing politics. This cozy Trump tie-in has only deepened the progressive outcry, with some tying Machado’s Gaza stance to his administration’s own controversies.

As the December 10 ceremony nears, Machado’s Nobel teeters between triumph and travesty. Supporters argue her flaws are dwarfed by Maduro’s sins—7 million refugees, a gutted economy, rigged elections. “In a dictatorship’s shadow, perfection’s a pipe dream,” one Caracas protester said. Yet for critics, awarding a prize for peace to someone cozy with conflict and foreign plots tarnishes the Nobel’s halo. Machado’s fight for Venezuela’s soul may inspire millions, but her global alliances threaten to fracture the very unity she’s celebrated for. In this polarized saga, her prize is less a crown than a crucible.

Also Read: Venezuela’s Rebel Leader Machado Wins Nobel Peace Prize