Pérez Esquivel confronts María Corina Machado’s Nobel Prize

Argentine Adolfo Pérez Esquivel, Nobel Peace Prize winner in 1980, harshly criticized the choice of Venezuelan opponent María Corina Machado as winner of the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize. At 94 years old, Esquivel published an open letter in which he questioned the leader’s links with the United States and her confrontational stance against the Bolivarian government.

“Corina, I ask you: why did you ask the United States to invade Venezuela? When you received the announcement that you had received the Nobel Peace Prize, you dedicated it to Trump, your country’s aggressor. […] The worst form of violence is lying”, wrote the Argentine.

International Choir of Criticism

Machado’s choice provoked reactions throughout the region. Spanish journalist Ignacio Ramonet classified the decision as “the necrosis of a Nobel Prize”. For him, it is “an aberration of the current international disorder” and “Orwell’s dystopia in 1984, in which peace is war”.

Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel stated that the choice reflects “unimaginable politicization, prejudice and discredit” of the Norwegian Committee. According to him, it is “a political maneuver” against the Bolivarian leadership. Former Honduran president Manuel Zelaya was even more incisive: “to award the Nobel Peace Prize to a coup leader, allied with foreign interests, is to transform the symbol of peace into an instrument of modern colonialism”.

Michelle Ellner, US platform Codepink, highlighted that “there is nothing remotely peaceful” about Machado’s policies, which have always meant “coups, sanctions and privatizations” for the Venezuelan people — in parallel to the destruction in Gaza.

Maduro’s reaction

This Sunday (12), during the celebrations of “Indigenous Resistance Day”, President Nicolás Maduro called the opponent a “demonic witch”, without mentioning her directly. “Ninety percent of the population rejects the demonic witch of Sayona,” he stated, citing a figure from Venezuelan folklore. “We want peace, and we will have peace – but a peace with freedom, with sovereignty”, added Maduro.

Pérez Esquivel’s letter

Published in the Argentine newspaper Page 12 This Monday (13) with the title “From Nobel to Nobel”, Esquivel’s letter recalls his trajectory of resistance to dictatorships and asks for coherence from his opponent.

He warns that the US “has no allies, only interests” and accuses Machado of reinforcing a colonial logic. “I am concerned that you did not dedicate the Nobel Prize to your people, but rather to Venezuela’s aggressor. I think, Corina, that you need to analyze and understand your position: if you are just another cog in the United States’ colonial system, it can never be for the good of your people.”

Esquivel concludes by asking the opponent to open “her mind and heart to dialogue” and to build peace “not by provoking more violence, but by working for the unity and freedom of her people.” Check out the full letter below.

From Nobel to Nobel

“I send you the greetings of Peace and Goodness that humanity and people living in poverty, conflict, war and hunger need so much. This open letter aims to express your feelings and share some reflections.

I was surprised by your nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize by the Nobel Committee. It reminded me of the struggles against dictatorships on the continent and in my country, military dictatorships that we faced from 1976 to 1983. We suffered arrests, torture and exile, with thousands of children missing, kidnapped and missing, and the death flights, of which I am a survivor.

In 1980, the Nobel Committee awarded me the Nobel Peace Prize; 45 years have passed and we continue to work at the service of the poorest and alongside the people of Latin America. I accepted this high distinction on behalf of all of them, not for the Award itself, but for my commitment to people who share the struggles and hopes of building a new dawn. Peace is built day by day, and we must be consistent between our words and our actions.

At 94 years old, I continue to be a lifelong learner and am concerned about his position and his social and political decisions. So I send you these thoughts.

The Venezuelan government is a democracy with its ups and downs. Hugo Chávez paved the way for the freedom and sovereignty of the people and fought for continental unity; he was an awakening of the Great Fatherland. The United States has constantly attacked it: it cannot allow any country on the continent to escape its colonial orbit and dependence; continue to maintain that Latin America is their “backyard”. The United States’ blockade of Cuba for more than 60 years is an attack on the freedom and rights of the people. The resistance of the Cuban people is an example of dignity and strength.

I’m surprised how much you cling to the United States: you must know that they have no allies or friends, only interests. The dictatorships imposed in Latin America were instrumentalized by their interests of domination and destroyed the lives and social, cultural and political organization of the people fighting for their freedom and self-determination. We, the people, resist and fight for the right to be free and sovereign, and not a colony of the United States.

Nicolás Maduro’s government is under threat from the United States and the blockade. Just consider the naval forces in the Caribbean and the danger of an invasion of your country. You have not said a word, or support the great power’s interference against Venezuela. The Venezuelan people are ready to face the threat.

Corina, I ask you. Why did you ask the United States to invade Venezuela? When you received the announcement that you had been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, you dedicated it to Trump. The aggressor of your country who lies and accuses Venezuela of being a drug trafficker, a lie similar to that of George Bush, who accused Saddam Hussein of possessing “weapons of mass destruction”. A pretext to invade Iraq, loot it and cause thousands of victims, women and children. I was in Baghdad’s children’s hospital at the end of the war and saw the destruction and deaths perpetrated by those who claim to be defenders of freedom. The worst form of violence is lying.

Don’t forget, Corina, that Panama was invaded by the United States, which caused death and destruction in an attempt to capture a former ally, General Noriega. The invasion left 1,200 people dead in Los Chorrillos. Today, the United States seeks to retake the Panama Canal. It is a long list of interventions and suffering in Latin America and the world by the United States. The veins of Latin America are still open, as Eduardo Galeano said.

I am concerned that you did not dedicate the Nobel Prize to your people, but rather to the aggressor in Venezuela. I think, Corina, you need to analyze and understand your position: if you are just another cog in the US colonial system, subject to its dominant interests, which can never be for the good of your people. As an opponent of the Maduro government, his positions and choices generate a lot of uncertainty. You are resorting to the worst when you ask the United States to invade Venezuela.

The important thing is to keep in mind that building peace requires a lot of strength and courage for the good of your people, whom I know and love deeply. Where there were once shacks on the hills where people survived in poverty and misery, today there is decent housing, healthcare, education and culture. The dignity of the people cannot be bought or sold.

Corina, as the poet says: “Walker, there is no path, the path is made by walking.” Now you have the opportunity to work for your people and build peace, not provoke more violence. An evil cannot be resolved with another greater evil. We will only have two evils and never a solution to the conflict.

Open your mind and your heart to dialogue, to encounter your people, empty the jar of violence and build peace and unity among your people so that the light of freedom and equality shines.”

Nobel Committee justification

In Oslo, the Norwegian Committee justified the choice by stating that Machado was awarded “for her tireless work in promoting democratic rights for the people of Venezuela and her fight for a fair and peaceful transition from dictatorship to democracy”.

The president of the Committee, Jorgen Watne Frydnes, stated that the opponent is “one of the most extraordinary examples of civil courage in Latin America in recent times”.

Who is María Corina Machado

María Corina Machado (Caracas, 1967) is an industrial engineer and far-right politician from Venezuela. A figure known for defending foreign sanctions, he was directly involved in the 2002 coup d’état against Hugo Chávez, signing the “Carmona Decree”, which dissolved the country’s institutions.

Founder of opposition organizations such as Súmate and Soy Venezuela, she maintained links with the United States agenda, even publicly calling for military intervention against her own country. Impeached as a deputy in 2014 and subsequently banned from holding public office, she became one of the most aggressive faces of the opposition to Nicolás Maduro.

Despite presenting herself as a defender of democracy, her record combines support for coups, sanctions and privatizations — measures that have deepened the suffering of the Venezuelan people. Still, she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

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with agencies