Machado a worthy Nobel Peace laureate

According to Alfred Nobel's will, a Nobel Prize is meant to be given to those who “during the preceding year, shall have conferred the greatest benefit on mankind.” Note the word “preceding”: Those of us who think Donald Trump deserves the Nobel Peace Prize for his part in ending (or at least pausing) the war in Gaza will have to wait until next year’s awards are announced.

- Bret Stephens

We shouldn’t hold our breath.

In the meantime, the Norwegian Nobel Committee chose well in awarding this year’s peace prize Friday to Maria Corina Machado, the 58-year-old Venezuelan opposition leader now in hiding from the regime of Nicolas Maduro. By doing so, the committee also indicted that regime and its 26-year record of ruin.

Machado earned her Nobel last year when, after being blocked by the government from running for president, she rallied behind Edmundo Gonzilez, a nonpartisan candidate. Gonzalez went on to win the vote by more than 2-to-1, according to independent surveys, only to see Maduro ignore the result and install himself for another six-year term, throwing nearly 2,000 political dissidents into prison in the bargain.