Nobel Peace Prize for María Corina Machado
The decision to award this year's Nobel Peace Prize to María Corina Machado, a long-time opposition activist in Venezuela who has been in hiding for over a year for safety reasons, has put the conflict between the Maduro regime and the opposition back into the spotlight. The media discuss whether she deserves the prestigious award.
Fighting for a normal life
The Nobel Peace Prize has gone to the right place, economist Konstantin Sonin writes on Facebook:
“Maduro's regime is unique: in the more than ten years of his rule he has plunged one of the world's most resource-rich states into such poverty that the population is fleeing en masse to neighbouring countries. Democracy in Venezuela was destroyed by former leader Chávez at a time when oil prices were high, but his immature socialist policies at least had good intentions - he actually did try to fight poverty. ... The Maduro regime is just a gang of bandits, secret services and police troops. The fight that Machado and her supporters are engaged in is not just a fight for abstract freedom but for a normal, good life for all Venezuelans.”
A long career as a right-wing activist
The Süddeutsche Zeitung sees the decision to give the award to Machado as questionable:
“Machado has not brought peace so far. On the contrary: in 2002 she supported an attempted coup against Hugo Chávez, who had become Venezuela's president just three years earlier in democratic elections. At that time, his socialist government was still supported by broad sections of the population. Machado comes from an industrialist family, and the 2002 coup was also directed against the Chávez government's numerous social programmes. ... In September Machado took part via video link in the 'Europa Viva 25' conference, a meeting of far-right parties such as Vox, Fidesz from Hungary and the French Rassemblement National. ... All this raises questions about what kind of country Venezuela would be under Machado's leadership.”
Trump deserves the prize more
This year's Nobel Peace Prize should have gone to the peacemaker in the Gaza war, criticises journalist Paolo João Santos in Correio da Manhã:
“Two years of war is a long time. The hostages will finally return home, some to their final resting place, others to rebuild their lives. ... I don't know whether Corina deserves the Nobel Peace Prize, because there is always a certain subjectivity involved in the awarding of these prizes. But if you look at what's happening in the Middle East right now it wouldn't have been a bad idea to award it to the person who made it all possible. Whether you like that person or not, he has brought peace to hell. His name is Donald Trump.”