BBC-Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado has given her Nobel Peace Prize medal to President Donald Trump during a meeting at the White House, saying it was a recognition of his commitment to her country’s freedom.
“I think today is a historic day for us Venezuelans,” she said after meeting Trump in person for the first time, weeks after US forces seized Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro in Caracas and charged him in a drug-trafficking case.
Trump said on social media that the move was “a wonderful gesture of mutual respect”, but the Nobel committee has said the prize itself was not transferable.
The US president has declined to endorse Machado as Venezuela’s new leader, despite her movement claiming victory in 2024’s widely contested elections.
Trump has instead been dealing with the acting head of state in Venezuela, Delcy Rodríguez, Maduro’s former vice-president.
But he said meeting Machado was a “great honor”, calling her a “wonderful woman who has been through so much”.
After leaving the White House, Machado spoke to supporters gathered at the gates outside, telling them in Spanish, according to the Associated Press: “We can count on President Trump.”
“I presented the president of the United States the medal of the Nobel Peace Prize,” Machado later told journalists in English, calling it “a recognition for his unique commitment with our freedom”.
Trump, who often speaks about his desire to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, had expressed displeasure when it was given to Machado and she decided to accept the honour last year.
The BBC has reached out to the White House for comment.
Machado said last week that she would share it with Trump, but the committee later clarified that it was not transferable.
“Once a Nobel Prize is announced, it cannot be revoked, shared, or transferred to others,” it said in a statement last week. “The decision is final and stands for all time.”
Asked for a reaction to Machado’s remarks, the committee directed the BBC to their previous statement.
Before the White House meeting on Thursday, the Nobel Peace Center posted on X that “a medal can change owners, but the title of a Nobel Peace Prize laureate cannot”.
In her remarks, Machado described how the Marquis de Lafayette, who fought in America’s Revolutionary War, gave a medal bearing the likeness of George Washington to Simon Bolivar, one of the founding fathers of modern Venezuela.
The gift was “a sign of the brotherhood” between her country and the US “in their fight for freedom against tyranny,” Machado said.
“And 200 years in history, the people of Bolivar are giving back to the heir of Washington a medal – in this case a medal of the Nobel Peace Prize – as a recognition for his unique commitment with our freedom,” she said.
Machado also visited Congress to meet US senators during her visit to Washington, where her remarks to reporters were drowned out by supporters chanting “María, presidente” and waving Venezuelan flags.
Machado had been expected to use her time with Trump to try to persuade him that backing Rodríguez’s interim government was a mistake, and that her opposition coalition should be in charge of this transition.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters as the meeting was under way on Thursday that Machado is “a remarkable and brave voice for many of the people of Venezuela” and that Trump “was looking forward to this meeting and expecting a frank and positive discussion” about the current realities of life in Venezuela.
Trump has previously described Machado as a “freedom fighter”, but rejected the notion of appointing her to lead Venezuela after Maduro’s removal, arguing that she lacks sufficient domestic support.
Freddy Guevara, co-founder of the opposition Venezuelan party Voluntad Popular and a former political prisoner of Maduro now living in exile, told the BBC he didn’t think Machado was “looking for endorsement” in giving Trump the prize or that it was a “tactic so Trump can appoint her”.
“I think this is not a personal goal. I think that María Corina Machado understands the importance, and she believes that this is the right thing to do for the freedom of Venezuela,” Guevara said, speaking on Radio 4’s Today programme.
He said the focus of the opposition was on securing democratic elections for the country. “What we are aiming is to have a democratic transition in which the people of Venezuela are the ones that will decide through their votes who is the one that is going to govern us.”
Since Maduro was seized on 3 January, the Trump administration has moved quickly to remake Venezuela’s oil sector, which had been under US sanctions. On Wednesday an American official said the US had completed its first sale of Venezuelan oil, valued at $500m (£373m).
Oil tankers suspected of transporting sanctioned Venezuelan oil have also been seized by the US, with US forces saying they had boarded a sixth tanker on Thursday.
Guevara said he didn’t think the US’s actions just related to oil, “however, we are not naive, and we understand the importance of development and oil for them [the US]. But we believe that both things can work at the same time.”
A Venezuelan government envoy is expected to travel to Washington on Thursday to meet US officials and take initial steps toward reopening the country’s embassy, the New York Times reported.
The emissary is reported to be a close ally and friend of Rodríguez, who has been described as “extremely co-operative” by the White House.
Rodríguez delivered the annual Message to the Nation speech in Caracas on Thursday, in which she said she was willing to attend meetings in Washington as well.
“If I ever have to go to Washington as acting president, I will do so standing tall, walking, and not crawling,” she said, calling on the country to “not be afraid of diplomacy” with the US.
Trump and Rodríguez also spoke by phone on Wednesday, with Trump later describing his counterpart on social media as “a terrific person”. Rodríguez, meanwhile, described the call as “productive and courteous” and characterised by “mutual respect.”
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He probably demanded it and just like TNT she buckled.
Nar I believe they are just super greatful that Trump got rid of Venezuela’s biggest problem.. Back to the richest country in South America for Venezuela and soon back to a western prosperous society for Iran….. America will have Greenland and protection from Putin…All Wins!!!
You got to be kidding me … you’ll fear Donald trump.. my view is that he’s a racist, xenophobic, narcissistic, pathological liar…. I’ll give him a prize for that, he is definitely not making peace in the world I live in….
She does not have the authority to transfer the Nobel prize medal that was given her to anyone else. Both individuals should know better. She is embarrassing herself and insulting the US president.
Is this another case of prostituting like Trinidad???
What an Ass Kisser is this woman. If I were a Venezuelan I would be very disappointed in having that as my wanna be president. The dignity of Venezuela has gone through the drain with this woman. She worked with Trump to oust Maduro and thought she would be given the crown, but instead Trump doesn’t seem to have any use for her. What a thing. But all is not lost you can still be his Monica Lewinski.
Trinidad signed a deal with Exxon last summer for Exxon to explore and drill for oil off the coast of Trinidad.
Oil, oil, and more oil to power the massive power grid popping up across America and China.
They are needed to power the power grid needed for Ai which is the new arms race.
At the end of the day she is proving to be an embarrassment and a dwindling force for the Venezuela people who will now have to settle in like Antiguans and Barbudans to survive under a corrupt and repressive regime.
This woman desperation to sell out her country and be a marionette is beyond understanding, and she is more of the elite white class extraction in Venezuela that hate the real venezuelan people. The way it looks if she is called into an orgy scene with these American political class she would anxiously pleasure them all.
@ Less We Forget,
There is no better “Kiss Assers” then you and Ceta. So keep quiet before I don’t expose you.
@this world is a messed up place, I just understand you at all the lady that wanted to take over Venezuela government and said when she is in power she would sell everything possible is greatful that the Maduro government is still in power? What Putin did to hind anything about Greenland, when it’s a Danish NATO territory? What do you even believe in?
Only thing this reminds me of are the reports that stated Machado didn’t get made the puppet president of Venezuela because she won the Nobel prize that Trump wanted and was after
@ Less We Forget – The simple mind who resorts to insults.
The fact that Machado would have offered her Noble Prize in the first place says something about her political ambitions, her character and her ability to lead Venezuela in these difficult times.
She had an out; when the Noble Prize Committee said it was not transferable.
She has turned from being considered a heroic ticket to a new day in Venezuelan politics and future; and now has made herself the laughing stock of the most of world who despises Donald Trump
Trump is always about money and bragging. This confiscation of the noble Prize is no different from all the other items Trump has confiscated over the years; and will be among other items which will be placed in the Trump Presidential library.
Trump sole intent is to strike a deal so he and his friends can share in the riches of Venezuela oil and mineral wealth.
Whatever or whoever the political group that gets him there first is who he will give his support.
Trump will not be the President forever.
So Venezuela can nationalize their oil industry again in the future; when they seriously begin to pump oil and Trump is pushing up daises.
They will be able to make the case that the decisions they make now, were made with guns at their heads.
The world knows any decisions they make at this moment, they are under duress.
María Corina Machado show she doesn’t have the broader political skills for the times in which we find ourselves with a Donald Trump as US President.
The acting President Rodrigues prove to be better at the game of self preservation and balancing between Trumps greed and a prosperous Venezuelans in the future.
The Acting President Rodriquez father was among those tortured to death by the regime that Hugo Chavez replaced. She is not a newbie. She has fought in the trenches with Chavez
Machado’s pedegree on the other hand, is from the old elite who kept the most of the wealth of Venezuela to themselves, from generations to generations
Within the first 48 hours of Maduro’s removal from Venezuela, Rodrigues was giving fiery speeches against Trump the USA while holding talks with Trump.
She is a general among the soldiers who can pivot in an instance.
Machado is her worse enemy. When she thought she was doing something magnanimous Donald Trump saw her as weak.
That’s not the type of character Trump loves. In Trumps view Machado is too naive and weak. He saw it the moment she dedicated the Noble Prize to him.
She had many instances in which should have been guided Such as the way in which Trump embraced the now President of Syria who was the leader of an Isis fraction.
It’s always about what’s in it for Trump and his buddies.
Trump want’s OIL NOW and Machado can not deliver.
Is funny how many Antiguans gives a lot but a lot of comments about how some Women are doing in other countries and how they handle their business. Lot of statistics, background checks. We knows more of Maria Corina than Maria Brown.
I read in some comments that Maria Corina is part of some Venezuela Elite that are rich, and Maria Brown is part of what?
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