The Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado has handed her Nobel peace prize medal to Donald Trump following a meeting at the White House, nearly two weeks after the US president ordered the capture of Venezuela’s president, Nicolás Maduro.
Machado, who received the award last year for her opposition to Maduro’s authoritarian rule, said she presented the medal to Trump “in recognition of his unique commitment to our freedom”.
Trump later claimed on Truth Social that Machado had “presented me with her Nobel peace prize for the work I have done”, calling it “a wonderful gesture of mutual respect”.
A photograph released by the White House showed the medal mounted in a large gold frame. An inscription beneath it read that the gift was presented “as a personal symbol of gratitude on behalf of the Venezuelan people” in recognition of Trump’s actions to secure a free Venezuela.
The Nobel peace prize committee quickly distanced itself from the gesture, posting on X: “A medal can change owners, but the title of a Nobel peace prize laureate cannot.”
Machado’s political movement is widely believed to have defeated Maduro in Venezuela’s disputed 2024 election. Supporters had hoped Trump would recognise the 58-year-old conservative politician as the country’s new leader after Maduro was captured by US special forces on 3 January.
Instead, Trump backed Maduro’s vice-president, Delcy Rodríguez, who was sworn in as acting president. Machado was sidelined, despite earlier expectations she would take power.
On Thursday, Machado appeared to acknowledge the setback, telling reporters she had presented her medal to Trump during a private meeting in what analysts described as an attempt to regain his support.
Earlier this week, Nobel organisers reiterated that the prize could not be shared or transferred after Machado suggested she wanted to “share” it with Trump. “The decision is final and stands for all time,” they said.
Machado compared her gesture to a historical episode in 1825, when the Marquis de Lafayette sent a gold medal bearing the image of George Washington to Simón Bolívar. She described it as a symbol of solidarity between the US and Venezuelan people in their fight against tyranny.
Trump’s reluctance to back Machado is reported to stem from strained relations with members of his team and concerns that her movement would struggle to control Venezuela’s fragile security situation.
The White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, said Trump’s position was based on “realities on the ground” and advice from his national security team. She added that his view had not changed.
Machado is not the first Nobel laureate to part with their medal. Ernest Hemingway gave his literature prize medal to a Catholic church in Cuba, while Russian journalist Dmitry Muratov auctioned his in 2022 to support Ukrainian child refugees.
However, analysts say Machado appears to be the first to give away her medal for such explicitly political reasons.
Trump has been openly dismissive of Machado’s leadership prospects, recently describing her as “a very nice woman” who lacked sufficient support within Venezuela. He has spoken more favourably of Rodríguez, saying she was willing to do what was necessary to stabilise the country.
He has also dampened expectations of an early election, saying Venezuela must be “fixed” first before voters could return to the polls.
Leavitt said Trump hoped for a “good and positive discussion” with Machado and praised her as a “remarkable and brave voice” for many Venezuelans. She added that Rodríguez’s interim administration was cooperating closely with Washington, citing the recent release of five US citizens from Venezuelan prisons.
Rodríguez, meanwhile, used a state of the union address in Caracas to condemn the US operation as an invasion and accused Washington of kidnapping Maduro. She described the action as the worst rupture in US-Venezuela relations.
Despite her criticism, Rodríguez said she was willing to travel to Washington to engage in diplomacy. Venezuela, she said, had the right to maintain relations with countries including China, Russia, Iran and the United States.
“If it falls to me, as acting president, to go to Washington, I will do it standing tall, not crawling,” she told lawmakers, rejecting Trump’s claim that he was now “running” Venezuela.
