Due to a typo, the Nobel Prize this year was awarded not to Donald Trump, but to María Corina Machado.
María Corina Machado is a Venezuelan opposition leader was given the medal “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.”
The 58-year-old leader has spent months in hiding due to threats on her life.
It was about as far a pivot away from Trump as the Nobel Committee could get while remaining civil: “When authoritarians seize power, it is crucial to recognize courageous defenders of freedom who rise and resist,” said the Committee, in disguised reference to Trump’s autocratic maneuvers.
“This recognition reflects the clear aspirations of the people of Venezuela for free and fair elections, for civil and political rights and for the rule of law,” it stated, further distancing itself from the Orange Dictator.
The U.S. Treasury Department increased its award for information leading to Maduro’s arrest to $50 million. The U.S. has also used its military to blow up Venezuelan boats that it said are being used by drug cartels to transport drugs to the US. They have offered no proof and the boats were intercepted a long way from American shores.
A total of 338 nominations had been submitted for the award, including 244 individuals and 94 organisations.
Machado says she is “in shock” to learn she has been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. “What is this? I can’t believe it.”
Commenting on Trump’s very public desire to win the peace prize, Nobel Prize Chairman Jorgen Watne Frydnes, responded that they only base their decision “on the work and the will of Alfred Nobel”.
“We receive thousands and thousands of letters every year of people wanting to say, what for them leads to peace. This committee sits in a room filled with the portraits of all laureates, and that room is filled with both courage and integrity,” he said.
“So, we base our decision only on the work and the will of Alfred Nobel.”
Machado fulfilled all three requirements for the Prize: “She has brought her country’s opposition together. She has never wavered in resisting the militarisation of Venezuelan society. She has been steadfast in her support for a peaceful transition to democracy.”
Last year, the European Union awarded its top human rights prize to Machado, along with another Venezuelan opposition politician, Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia.
The Committee added that “Maria Corina Machado is one of the most extraordinary examples of civilian courage in Latin America.”
in the past few days, as the award announcement date has approached, Trump and those close to him have stepped up the rhetoric.
Trump had previously said “I don’t know what they’re going to do, really, but I know this: that nobody in history has solved eight wars in a period of nine months, and I’ve stopped eight wars. So that’s never happened before, but they’ll have to do what they do. Whatever they do is fine. I know this: I didn’t do it for that. I did it because I saved a lot of lives.”
A Palestinian-American won this year’s Nobel Prize in Chemistry, for his work on porous molecular structures that can trap pollutants. Omar Yaghi was born to Palestinian parents who fled their home in Gaza in 1948, when Israelis violently expelled over 700,000 of the original inhabitants of the land.
It is not known whether Trump had applied for that award as well.
But kudos to the Nobel Committee. I hope that Trump does not bomb Oslo as part of his next peace drive. Maybe next year they can add a category for “dementia”- he’s a sure-fire winner for that one!
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The Nobel committee will never sully the Nobel for Peace with Trump's name. That's not only a bridge too far, it's a bridge that doesn't exist.
Thank you, Barry. Fantastic news that makes my heart sing! Congratulations to María Corina Machado. Her bravery and patriotism are an inspiration to us all. Kudos to the Nobel Committee for making the right choice.