On October 10, the Nobel Prize Committee awarded the Peace prize for the year 2025 to the Venezuelan right wing politician Maria Corina Machado who has been working for the last few years for the removal of the President Nicholas Maduro from his office. The White House initially reacted that the Nobel Committee proved they place politics above peace by indicating that the Committee ignored the Gaza peace deal organized by the US President Trump on October 8 just two days before the announcement.
But soon after, the winner Machado dedicated the prize to her mentor Trump. Trump also reciprocated since for him, it was the second best possible outcome in the context of the US President’s current moves in Venezuela. In the present volatile situation in Latin America, Machado getting the Nobel prize is a major boost to the US administration for its ideological and economic war against the left wing regimes in Latin America.
Over the past two months, the Trump administration has become increasingly belligerent towards Venezuela, repeatedly attacking Venezuelan boats with the unsubstantiated claim that they were smuggling drugs. Every indication is that the United States is preparing for a regime-change war. Machado’s Nobel Peace Prize makes the US intervention with her assistance more acceptable to the unaligned section of the Latin American population.
A New York Times headline captured the irony: “Peace Prize Winner Has Supported Trump’s Military Actions in the Caribbean.” To the famous Orwellian slogan “War is peace” we can now add a new variation: “Peace Prize justifies war.”. NYT has been right in assessing the significance of this Nobel prize which is virtually an endorsement of instigating a war against the elected left wing government in Venezuela.
Present President Nicholas Maduro has certainly some authoritarian trends and fails in respect of ensuring human rights, but those are nothing compared to some of the other regimes in Latin America whom the US is supporting. Machado who was not allowed to contest in the earlier Presidential elections due to a number of charges, allowed another candidate of the opposition to contest but he was defeated. Machado is a follower of Trump. She has been in touch with the US administration and a partner in crime against the Venezuelan people. What the Nobel committee talked about her fight for democracy is in effect a fight for denationalizing the oil reserves of Venezuela and disbanding the social security services for the poor implemented by the Maduro government.
As a leading US periodical noted Machado’s prize can be seen as both a product of Trump administration diplomacy and a signal for war. Last fall, Trump’s Secretary of State Marco Rubio, then a senator, signed a letter nominating Machado for the Nobel Peace Prize. The letter was signed by seven Republican lawmakers, including Michael Waltz, who is now the US ambassador to the United Nations after a contentious and brief term as Trump’s national security adviser. These Republicans supported Machado because she fundamentally shares their vision of counterrevolution and neoliberal restoration in Venezuela.
Upon winning the prize, Machado posted on the social media site X that she wanted to “dedicate this prize to the suffering people of Venezuela and to President Trump for his decisive support of our cause!” Speaking on Fox News on Friday, Machado said Trump “deserves” the prize for his self-proclaimed efforts in ending eight wars and championing of democracy in Venezuela.
What is the background of this so called fighter of democracy eulogized by the Nobel Committee.? She is pursuing a democracy which seeks military intervention in the democratically elected left regimes in Latin America. She has supported the far right former president of Brazil Jair Bolsonaro and El Salvador’s El Nayib Bukele. She is also a big admirer of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. She is a strong advocate of global far right consolidation against liberal and left leaning forces. She was an active virtual participant at the last summit of the far right groups of different countries at Madrid for preparing a charter of action.
Apart from Venezuela which is expected to witness the joint efforts of Trump Administration and Nobel Peace prize winner Machado for regime change, the other left ruled countries like Brazil , Colombia and Honduras are expected to face Trump attacks in different forms. As against this, the pro Trump regimes like Argentina, El Salvador are getting big aids and other forms of assistance. Argentina has just been sanctioned a large economic aid by the US to tide over the current economic crisis, whereas Brazil and Mexico are constantly under threats from the US administration on trade tariffs and immigrants in USA.
No American president has exerted as much pressure on the Latin American region as it is now since the height of the Cold War, when Ronald Reagan focused his efforts there on battling left-wing Central American insurgencies and the Sandinista regime in Nicaragua. Trump doctrine in Latin America is to punish those regimes who do not agree with his policies and assists those who are acolytes. The US observers are calling this The Donroe doctrine as against the Monroe doctrine implemented earlier.
Trump can not tolerate the Left wing President of Mexico Claudia Sheinbaum who has more than 60 per cent popularity rating and leads a robust economy. Trump took on the U.S.’s biggest trading partner, claiming Mexico allied itself with drug cartels. He pressed Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum to let U.S. armed forces take a leading role in battling Mexican cartels, warning his administration would act unilaterally if Mexico didn’t. Sheinbaum rejected any direct U.S. military presence in the operation. She defiantly said that Mexico was in a position to tackle the situation on its own. The tussle continues.
In Latin America, the Left wing forces are facing problems. Apart from the attacks by the joint combination of US and far right in their own countries, there are problem of unity of the left groups. Bolivia is going for run off Presidential elections on October 19 this year. After two decades, Bolivia will be having a right wing president as both candidates belong to right. The vertical division in the ruling party MAS led to this sorry state of affairs when the divided Left could not secure even 10 per cent of the votes in the first phase.
Brazil and Colombia are going for Presidential elections next year. In Venezuela, President Maduro has to mend its affairs with his other partners. There has to be united Left offensive against Machado and her allies. In Chile, the Presidential elections are due in November this year. The presidential nominee of the united Left is the Communist Party leader. The fight will be tough as the opposition forces have consolidated. In all, for the Latin American Left, the next few years of Trump rule will be most challenging. They will have to unite as also expand their base bringing into their fold new allies to fight the combined Right in the coming days. (IPA Service)
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