FILE PHOTO: Venezuela opposition leaders Juan Pablo Guanipa and Maria Corina Machado attend a rally, in Caracas, Venezuela, January 9, 2025. Juan Pablo Guanipa is under arrest for allegedly leading a terrorist plot, which the Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello said on Friday, May 23, 2025. REUTERS/File Photo

GENEVA (Reuters) -The choice of Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado for the Nobel Peace Prize reinforces the need for a democratic transition in Venezuela, Human Rights Watch said on Friday, calling for governments including the United States to help.

Machado was blocked by Venezuela's courts in 2024 from challenging current leader Nicolas Maduro for the presidency and now lives in hiding.

"Ultimately, this reinforces the need for a democratic transition in Venezuela," Juan Pappier, Americas deputy director for Human Rights Watch, said in an interview with Reuters.

"I hope this reinvigorates the international support for the cause of a democratic transition in Venezuela."

Asked how he thought U.S. President Donald Trump, who covets the prize, would react, Pappier said: "He should be glad that the leader who has fought for democracy in one of the most consequential human rights crises in our hemisphere has been awarded this prize."

"This should send a signal to his government about the need to promote a peaceful transition to democracy in Venezuela," he added.

Trump has been a fierce critic of Maduro, and tensions between Washington and Caracas have intensified since his return to the White House in January.

(Reporting by Emma Farge, Editing by Miranda Murray)