Afrasianet - Raed Salha - The  victory of far-right Venezuelan politician María Corina Machado for the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize has sparked a wave of outrage and ridicule, especially among anti-sanctions and foreign intervention activists, who say the prize has lost its meaning when awarded to a figure who "supports Israel and advocates military intervention against its country."

In an article published by Venezuelan-American activist Michel Ellner titled "The Meaning of Peace When Rightists Win the Nobel Prize," Machado was described as "the face of Washington's regime-changing machine, and the elegant spokesperson for sanctions, privatization and foreign interference disguised as democracy."

From coups to alliances with Israel

Machado's policies are "far from peace," he says, noting that she was among the leaders of the failed coup in 2002 that temporarily ousted President-elect Hugo Chávez, and signed a decree that abolished the constitution and dissolved public institutions. It also supported U.S. sanctions, which he described as a "silent instrument of war" that have killed thousands of people by depriving them of food, medicine and energy.

Ellner noted that Machado explicitly called for foreign military intervention in Venezuela, going so far as to appeal to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to help "liberate Venezuela with bombs," adding that she "has openly aligned itself with a state that practices apartheid, bombs hospitals, and kills civilians in Gaza."

'Symbol' of the hegemonic alliance

Machado's Nobel Prize win, Ellner says, reflects "a global alliance between fascism, Zionism, and neoliberalism," arguing that this alliance "justifies wars and hegemony in the name of democracy and peace."

He added sarcastically: "If Henry Kissinger can win the Peace Prize, why not give Maria Corina Machado? Perhaps next year will give the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation a recognition of its compassion under occupation."

The prize loses its meaning

According to the article, the prize "no longer honors true peacemakers," but is now given to "political engineers of violence disguised as diplomacy." This is "an insult to the medics, journalists and humanitarian workers in Gaza who risk their lives to save lives," the author says.

True peace, he says, "is not made in closed rooms, but on the ground," at the hands of women who organize food webs during the blockade, indigenous communities defending their rivers from exploitation, workers who refuse to bow to hunger, and mothers searching for their missing children because of U.S. immigration policies.

"Peace of dignity, not peace of sanctions"

Ellner concludes by saying that awarding the prize to Machado "exposes the hypocrisy of Western institutions that equate submission with peace," stressing that peoples such as Venezuela, Cuba and Palestine "deserve a peace based on dignity and sovereignty rather than sanctions and privatization." 

Putin comments on Trump's loss of Nobel Peace Prize

President Vladimir Putin said the decision to award the Nobel Peace Prize to someone other than US President Donald Trump was "out of his business", stressing that the Nobel committee had damaged the prestige of the prize.

Putin's remarks came in response to the award of the prize to another personality in light of recent reports that it should be given to the US president in recognition of his efforts to "bring peace to many regions of the world." 

It is worth mentioning that Trump himself was waiting for him to receive this award and did not hide his great desire for this and made many statements in this regard, and many figures in the world supported him in this regard.

"The Nobel Committee has awarded the Peace Prize more than once to those who have done nothing for peace," the Russian president added.

"The decision of the Nobel Peace Prize Committee has caused great damage to the prestige of the prize," he said.

"Trump is sincerely committed to resolving the crisis in Ukraine and he is working on the issues of peace and the Middle East, and this is a clear example," he said.

The Russian president stressed that "Trump is making a lot of efforts to solve complex and long-term crises."

On the peace plan to end the war in Gaza, Putin said: "If we can complete what we started, it will be a historic event."