Gustavo Petro avoided giving a congratulatory message to María Corina Machado with the same tone of euphoria that the news produced in much of the world. Despite being in Europe, where the Nobel Peace Prize is the main news of the day, the president waited three hours to share a few brief words on his X account, which did not come out well.
The Colombian president linked the Venezuelan leader with the Kenyan leader, who had received the award in 2004. The Swedish Academy had published a tweet highlighting her career and noting that she was the first woman of African origin to win the award.
It was a message commemorating the women who have received the award and a preview of the announcement that the recipient of the award in 2025 would be announced this Friday.
Petro was right when he highlighted the struggle of Wangari Muta Maathai, perhaps one of the most beloved recipients of this recognition, who won it more than 20 years ago for her contributions to sustainable development, democracy, and peace.
The Academy highlights her legacy as the first African woman to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. She was also the first scholar from East and Central Africa to earn a doctorate (in biology) and the first female professor in her home country, Kenya. Maathai was active in the struggle for democracy in Kenya and belonged to the opposition to the Daniel arap Moi regime.
President Petro didn't realize that Maathai had passed away in 2011 and couldn't receive her congratulations.
It was clear that Gustavo Petro didn't want to send an effusive message to María Corina Machado. Hours earlier, the Colombian president had tweeted about Venezuela, but avoided mentioning the political leader, who won the presidential elections with Edmundo González last year, a victory Colombia has refused to recognize. The president has asked for the impossible to take this step: that Nicolás Maduro show all the ballots, something he will never do, given the serious doubts that exist about the way in which Chavismo declared itself the winner.
The president responded to a tweet from Sonia Lugo, the wife of one of the political prisoners, Enrique Márquez.
“Today, after nine long months of waiting and suffering, I was able to see my husband, Enrique Márquez, for the first time since his unjust imprisonment. These months have been difficult for all of us, but I want to share with you that Enrique is in perfect health, strong, steadfast, and more convinced than ever of his principles and values,” she wrote.
Gustavo Petro replied: "The Venezuelan government can take steps toward democratization in the face of the prisoners from Colombia and Venezuela. In reality, I believe that what commits a foreign aggression is uniting peoples, and the Latin American and Caribbean people must unite and resolve our problems alone, with full sovereignty."
The president also addressed the situation in Peru following the impeachment of Dina Boluarte."The betrayal was repaid with betrayal. A president elected by the people remains in prison without being convicted. This is a violation of the American Convention on Human Rights that must be discussed again throughout the Americas."
, which Petro has never opposed. In fact, the president's messages have been in line with the neighboring country's leader. Recently, Colombia agreed with that government on a binational zone for border management.
Although he has not mentioned it directly, his attack on Donald Trump for the military operation of the boats in the Caribbean is understood as a boost to Maduro, who has felt cornered by this deployment. The dictator and many voices around the world have interpreted it as a way to pressure him to remove him from power or as a prelude to a military intervention.
Following Israel's agreement with Hamas and the Nobel Peace Prize awarded to María Corina Machado, the two pillars of Petro's international discourse are in doubt.
María Corina Machado, Nobel Peace Prize Winner
The political leader was honored "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," announced the chairman of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, Jørgen Watne Frydnes.
"This is one of the most extraordinary examples of civic courage in Latin America in recent times," the Committee's president emphasized.
According to the academy, María Corina Machado has emerged as"a key unifying figure in a political opposition that was once deeply divided," and which now demands "free elections and a representative government."
“Despite facing serious threats to his life, he has remained in the country, a choice that has inspired millions,” added the president of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, who estimated that Venezuela “has evolved from a prosperous and relatively democratic country to a brutal and authoritarian state.”
