Trump awarded Nobel Peace Prize by María Corina Machado of Venezuela – National
Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado said she presented her Nobel Peace Prize to President Donald Trump at the White House on Thursday as she questioned his credibility to take over her country after the US ousted then-President Nicolás Maduro.
The Nobel Institute said that Machado could not give Trump the prize, the honor he wanted. Even if the move was symbolic, it was surprising because Trump effectively sidelined Machado, who has long faced opposition in Venezuela. He showed his willingness to work with acting President Delcy Rodríguez, who was second in command to Maduro.
“I gave the president of the United States an award, the Nobel Peace Prize,” Machado told reporters after leaving the White House on his way to Capitol Hill. He said he did this “in recognition of his exceptional commitment to our freedom.”
Trump later confirmed on social media that Machado left the medal to keep, saying it was an honor to meet him.
“She is a wonderful woman who has been through a lot. María gave me the Nobel Peace Prize for the work I did,” Trump said in his post. “What a wonderful act of mutual respect. Thank you María!”
The White House later posted a photo of Machado standing next to Trump in the Oval Office holding the medal in a large frame. The caption reads, “Presented as a personal token of gratitude on behalf of the Venezuelan people for recognizing President Trump’s principled and decisive action in defense of a free Venezuela.”
Trump has expressed doubts about his commitment to supporting democracy in Venezuela, but has not said when the election will be held. Machado revealed that he gave a few details about that during their conversation.
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He did not provide further details about what was said.
‘We can count on President Trump’
After the closed meeting, Machado greeted a large number of happy supporters who were waiting for him near the gates of the White House, stopping to hug many.
“We can count on President Trump,” he told them without elaborating, prompting the others to briefly chant, “Thank you, Trump.”
Prior to his visit to Washington, Machado had not been seen in public since traveling to Norway last month, where his daughter received a peace prize on his behalf. He had spent 11 months in hiding in Venezuela before emerging in Norway after the festival.
The euphoric atmosphere after his meeting with Trump stands in stark contrast to the political realities in Venezuela. Rodríguez remains in charge of day-to-day government operations, along with others in Maduro’s inner circle. In his first state of the union address on Thursday, the interim president called for renewed ties between the historic foes and called for opening up the state-run oil industry to more foreign investment after Trump promised to take control of Venezuela’s exports.
Trump said it will be difficult for Machado to lead because “he has no domestic support or respect in the country.” His party is believed to have won the 2024 elections that were annulled by Maduro.
White House press secretary Caroline Leavitt called Machado “an amazing and courageous voice” but also said the meeting did not mean Trump’s opinion of him had changed, calling it a “reality check.”
Leavitt told reporters that Trump supports new elections in Venezuela “when the time is right” but did not say when he thought that would be.
‘Frank and constructive discussion’ about Venezuela
Leavitt said Machado wanted a face-to-face meeting without setting his expectations for what would happen. He spent about two and a half hours at the White House.
“I don’t think he needs to hear anything from Ms.
After leaving the White House, Machado continued a closed-door meeting with a bipartisan group of senators.
Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., said Machado told them that “if there isn’t some progress, real progress toward a change in power, and/or an election in the next few months, we should all be concerned.”
“He reminded us that Delcy Rodríguez is, in many ways, worse than Maduro,” he added.
Asked if Machado has heard the White House’s commitment to hold elections in Venezuela, Murphy said, “No, I don’t think he has made any commitments to them.”
Sen. Bernie Moreno, an Ohio Republican, was upbeat following the meeting, saying Machado “sent a loud and clear message: What President Trump did was a very important, important event in Latin America. Getting rid of Maduro was very important.”
Machado’s stop in Washington coincided with US forces in the Caribbean Sea seizing another oil tanker the Trump administration says has ties to Venezuela. It is part of a broader US effort to control the South American country’s oil after US forces arrested Maduro and his wife less than two weeks ago at a heavily guarded compound in Venezuela’s capital Caracas and brought them to New York to stand trial on drug-trafficking charges.
Leavitt said Venezuela’s interim authorities have been fully cooperating with the Trump administration and noted that Rodríguez’s government has said it plans to release many of the prisoners held under Maduro. Among those released this week are five Americans.
Trump said Wednesday he had a “good conversation” with Rodríguez, their first since Maduro was ousted.
Machado doesn’t get the nod from Trump
Just hours after Maduro’s arrest, Trump said of Machado that “it would be very difficult for him to be a leader.” Machado had taken a careful course to avoid offending Trump, especially after winning the peace prize, and sought to cultivate relationships with him and key administration voices like Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
An industrial engineer and the daughter of a steel magnate, Machado first challenged the ruling party in 2004, when the non-governmental organization she co-founded, Súmate, promoted a referendum to recall then-President Hugo Chávez. The move failed, and Machado and other Súmate officials were charged with conspiracy.
A year later, he again angered Chávez and his supporters by going to Washington to meet with President George W. Bush, whom Chávez considered an enemy.
Nearly two decades later, he rallied millions of Venezuelans to reject Chávez’s successor, Maduro, for another term in the 2024 elections. But the ruling party’s loyal election authorities declared him the winner despite ample evidence to the contrary. The anti-government protests that followed were brutally dispersed.
