Prof. Benedicte Bull
Editing: La Tabla/Data Journalism Platform 19 DEC 2025
Professor Benedicte Bull from the Centre for Development and Environment at the University of Oslo raises a crucial concern: the prestige of the Nobel Prize is being used to normalize political agendas that erode democratic values and international law.
In an analysis published in Aftenposten, Bull acknowledges that María Corina Machado deserves recognition for being a prominent voice against the government, which she calls authoritarian, of Nicolás Maduro. However, she argues that after receiving the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize, the laureate has engaged in a dangerous instrumentalization of her newfound international legitimacy.
Key Areas of Concern
Bull identifies three specific fronts where this instrumental use of the prize manifests:
1. Whitewashing Trump’s Hemispheric Strategy
Immediately after receiving the Nobel, Machado dedicated it to U.S. President Donald Trump. This symbolic gesture, according to Bull, coincides with and bolsters a strategy of “enhanced imperialism” under Trump’s Amendment to the Monroe Doctrine. The academic notes that Machado has justified military operations in the Caribbean that would violate international law and has promised U.S. companies privileged access to Venezuelan resources, thus linking the peace prize to a geopolitical and economic control agenda.
2. Normalization of European Far-Right
Bull documents how Machado has signed the Madrid Declaration of “Patriots for Europe,” a coalition encompassing parties like France’s National Rally, Spain’s Vox, and Italy’s Lega Nord. In addressing them in September, she openly supported their project of “reconquest” of Europe, thereby aligning herself with political forces whose rhetoric and policies, warns Bull, threaten democracy and human rights within Europe itself.
3. Legitimization of a War Framework Under the Pretext of Narcoterrorism
The professor criticizes how Machado has spent over a decade constructing a narrative that portrays Venezuela as a “criminal state” and Maduro as the leader of cartels. This rhetoric, Bull argues, provides Trump with a linguistic framework for military actions that do not genuinely address the drug problem but prioritize geopolitical control, bombing routes to Europe while granting clemency to allied convicted drug traffickers.
The Paradox and the Warning
The core of Bull’s warning lies in a deep paradox: a leader awarded for her struggle for democracy is using that recognition to endorse actors and practices that undermine the foundations of the international democratic system, international law, and human rights.
The Norwegian academic concludes that the fight for democracy in Venezuela must go on, but she urges that the Nobel Peace Prize inspire Machado to seek broader democratic alliances and distance herself from those who relativize the values that the award symbolizes. Otherwise, she warns, the shadow over the prestige of the award could extend, draining it of its essential meaning at a time when global democracy faces converging threats.