Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado said on Thursday that she had “handed over” her Nobel Peace Prize medal to Donald Trump in a bid to win over the US president who sidelined her since the ouster of Nicolas Maduro.
Her extraordinary gesture comes after Trump said the award should have gone to him instead – and after he refused to support Machado following the January 3 US military operation to capture Maduro.
Trump has instead backed Maduro’s vice president, Delcy Rodriguez, as long as she toes Washington’s line, particularly on access to Venezuela’s vast oil reserves.
“I presented the president of the United States with the Nobel Peace Prize medal,” Machado told reporters outside the US capital, where she met with lawmakers after lunching with Trump at the White House.
Machado, 58, said it was “recognition of his unique commitment to our freedom”.
It was not immediately clear whether Trump actually kept the award after the closed-door meeting.
The Norwegian Nobel Committee says its prizes cannot be transferred.
‘don’t worry’
Trump campaigned hard to win last year’s Nobel Peace Prize for what he says is an effort to stop eight wars.
Instead, she reached out to Machado, who appeared in Oslo last month to receive her award after a daring boat escape from Venezuela and then dedicate it to Trump.
Venezuela’s opposition has argued and presented evidence that Maduro stole the 2024 election from Machado’s party candidate Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia – claims backed by Washington.
But Trump said Machado did not have enough support among Venezuelans and decided to stick with former loyalist Maduro Rodriguez.
Trump and Rodriguez had their first phone call on Wednesday, and the White House said Thursday that it “likes what it sees” with Venezuela’s interim leaders.
However, Rodriguez said on Thursday that her government was “not afraid” of a diplomatic clash with Washington.
“We know they are very powerful. We know they are a deadly nuclear power… We are not afraid to confront them diplomatically, through political dialogue,” Rodriguez said.
Rodriguez delivered Maduro’s State of the Nation address to parliament while the ousted Venezuelan leader is in jail in New York facing drug-trafficking charges.
By contrast, Machado, who has campaigned for years to end the leftist Maduro’s rule, was greeted by cheering supporters as she left the White House.
And her meeting with Trump was an opportunity for her to bring the issue of democratic transition back to the fore.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said at the start of the luncheon that Machado was “a remarkable and brave voice for many people in Venezuela.”
But while Leavitt said Trump is “determined that one day we will have elections in Venezuela,” she did not specify a timetable.
Since Maduro’s capture, Trump has said the United States will “manage” Venezuela — applying pressure through a naval blockade and threats of further attacks — but he seems content to let Rodriguez stay in power as long as the oil keeps flowing.
US forces seized a sixth oil tanker on Thursday in their campaign to control the South American country’s critical fossil fuel sector.
Separately, the first US-brokered sale of Venezuelan oil worth around $500 million has been completed, a US official told AFP on Thursday, without identifying the buyer.
In her speech, Rodriguez also announced plans for legal reforms to Venezuela’s oil sector — which currently restrict foreign involvement — but did not provide specific details.
Washington also welcomed the release of dozens of political prisoners in the past week, although hundreds remain behind bars.
Meanwhile, the shockwaves from the lightning US airstrike that toppled Maduro are still reverberating.
On Thursday, Cuba paid tribute to the 32 soldiers killed in the operation, some of whom were assigned to Maduro’s protection team, in a ceremony attended by revolutionary leader Raúl Castro.
