Venezuelan leader María Corina Machado said she gifted President Donald Trump her Nobel Peace Prize medal at the White House on Thursday, even after he questioned her credibility to take command of the country following the deposition of then-president Nicolás Maduro by the United States.
The Nobel Institute stated that Machado could not give her prize to Trump, an honor he coveted. Even if the gesture proves purely symbolic, it was extraordinary, considering that Trump effectively sidelined Machado, who has long been the face of resistance in Venezuela. He signaled his willingness to work with interim President Delcy Rodríguez, who was Maduro’s vice president.
“I gifted the President of the United States with the Nobel Peace Prize medal,” Machado told reporters after leaving the White House and heading to the Capitol. She said she did so “in recognition of his unique commitment to our freedom.”
Trump later confirmed on social media that Machado had left the medal for him, and said it was an honor to meet her.
“She is a wonderful woman who has been through a lot. María gifted me her Nobel Peace Prize for the work I did,” Trump said in his post. “A wonderful gesture of mutual respect. Thank you, María!”
The White House later posted a photo of Machado alongside Trump in the Oval Office, as he holds the medal in a large frame. Text on the frame reads: “Gifted as a personal symbol of gratitude on behalf of the Venezuelan people in recognition of President Trump’s firm and decisive action to ensure a free Venezuela.”
Trump raised doubts about his stated commitment to supporting a democratic regime in Venezuela, without providing a timeline for holding elections. Machado indicated that he provided few details on the matter during the conversation.
She provided no further information on what was said.
“We can count on President Trump”
After the closed-door meeting, Machado greeted dozens of supporters waiting for her near the White House gates, stopping to hug many of them.
“We can count on President Trump,” she said without giving further details, prompting some to briefly shout: “Thank you, Trump.”
Before her Washington visit, Machado had not been seen in public since traveling last month to Norway, where her daughter received the prize on her behalf. She spent 11 months in hiding in Venezuela before reappearing in Norway after the ceremony.
The jubilant scene after her meeting with Trump contrasted with the political reality in Venezuela. Rodríguez continues to run the government’s daily operations, along with other members of Maduro’s inner circle. In her first state of the nation address on Thursday, the interim president advocated resuming diplomatic ties between historic adversaries and opening the state oil industry to more foreign investment, after Trump promised to take control of Venezuelan oil sales.
Trump said it would be difficult for Machado to lead the country because she “has no support or respect within the country.” It is widely believed that her party won the 2024 elections, which were rejected by Maduro.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt called Machado “a remarkable and courageous voice,” but also said the meeting did not mean Trump’s opinion of her had changed, describing it as “a realistic assessment.”
Leavitt told reporters that Trump supports new elections in Venezuela “when the time is right,” but did not say when he thought that might happen.
A “frank and positive discussion” about Venezuela
Leavitt said Machado had personally requested the meeting, without creating expectations about what would happen. She spent about two and a half hours at the White House.
“I don’t think he needs to hear anything from Mrs. Machado,” the press secretary said while the meeting was still underway, except to have a “frank and positive discussion about what’s happening in Venezuela.”
After leaving the White House, Machado attended a closed-door meeting with a bipartisan group of senators.
Senator Chris Murphy, a Democrat from Connecticut, said Machado told them that “if there’s no real progress toward a power transition and/or elections in the coming months, we should all be concerned.”
“She reminded us that Delcy Rodríguez is, in many ways, worse than Maduro,” he added.
Asked if Machado had received any commitment from the White House on holding elections in Venezuela, Murphy said: “No, I don’t think she got any commitment from them.” Senator Bernie Moreno, a Republican from Ohio, was elated after the meeting, saying Machado “delivered a loud and clear message: what President Trump did was the most important and significant event in Latin America. Getting rid of Maduro was absolutely essential.”
Machado’s Washington visit coincided with the seizure, by U.S. forces in the Caribbean Sea, of another sanctioned tanker that, according to the Trump administration, had ties to Venezuela. This is part of a broader U.S. effort to take control of the South American country’s oil, after U.S. forces captured Maduro and his wife less than two weeks ago in a heavily guarded complex in the Venezuelan capital, Caracas, and took them to New York to face drug trafficking charges.
Leavitt said the interim Venezuelan authorities have been fully cooperating with the Trump administration and noted that Rodríguez’s government stated it plans to release more prisoners detained during the Maduro era. Among those released were five Americans, this week.
Trump said on Wednesday (14) that he had a “great conversation” with Rodríguez, the first since Maduro’s deposition.
Machado does not receive Trump’s support
Just hours after Maduro’s capture, Trump said of Machado that “it would be very difficult for her to be the leader.” Machado had adopted a cautious stance to avoid offending Trump, especially after winning the peace prize, and sought to cultivate relationships with him and key government figures, such as Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
An industrial engineer and daughter of a steel magnate, Machado began challenging the ruling party in 2004, when the non-governmental organization she co-founded, Súmate, promoted a referendum to oust then-president Hugo Chávez. The initiative failed, and Machado and other Súmate executives were charged with conspiracy.
A year later, she drew the ire of Chávez and his allies again by traveling to Washington to meet President George W. Bush, whom Chávez considered an adversary.
Nearly two decades later, she mobilized millions of Venezuelans to reject Chávez’s successor, Maduro, for another term in the 2024 elections. But election authorities loyal to the ruling party declared him the winner, despite ample credible evidence to the contrary. The ensuing anti-government protests ended in brutal repression.
Source: npr.org and AP