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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