Venezuelan Opposition Leader Machado Gifts Trump Nobel prize after White House Meeting

Image credit: Kevin Payravi via Wikimedia Commons

Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado has gifted her Nobel peace prize to Donald Trump in a meeting between the two at the White House on Thursday. 

Machado, a political activist, opposed the government of Nicolás Maduro, who is currently being held in the US. She presented the prize as “a symbol of gratitude” from “the Venezuelan people.”

The Nobel committee had previously said in a statement that the prize could not be legally transferred or shared. 

The meeting between the two came after Trump had shared a doctored image on TruthSocial which claimed that he was “Acting President of Venezuela”, with the Trump administration claiming it would run the country while the power struggle following Nicolás Maduro’s removal continued.

Machado had initially seemed like a promising prospect to succeed the former Venezuelan president but Trump has ruled out the possibility of her receiving US support. The US instead has expressed a preference to work with Delcy Rodriguez, formerly Maduro’s vice-president. 

It was expected that Machado would attempt to convince Trump of the need for democratic elections in Venezuela, something that her Soy Venezuela democratic alliance has been calling for since its founding in 2017. Despite being barred from standing in the 2024 elections, Machado supported Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia, who is widely believed to have been the legitimate winner. Trump has said that the US is seeking a democratic transition in Venezuela, but admitted that US involvement could continue for many years.

For now, the crisis that Venezuela is embroiled in does not seem to be subsiding. Whether Machado’s gift to Trump is out of genuine gratitude, or an attempt to buy political favour, the US political presence in Venezuela looks set to continue for the foreseeable future, with few answers as to how it could end.