Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado met with President Donald Trump at the White House on Thursday and gave him her Nobel Peace Prize, which she'd already dedicated to him upon winning. He called it a "wonderful gesture of mutual respect."
"It was my Great Honor to meet María Corina Machado, of Venezuela, today. She is a wonderful woman who has been through so much. María presented me with her Nobel Peace Prize for the work I have done. Such a wonderful gesture of mutual respect. Thank you María!" Trump wrote on Truth Social.
Machado spoke about the gift, saying that she did so "because he deserves it. It was a very emotional moment. I decided to present the Nobel Peace Prize medal on behalf of the people of Venezuela." The Nobel Peace Prize committee condemned this transfer of the prize, saying essentially that Nobel Peace Prizes are non-transferable. Her win was for "promoting democratic rights for the people of Venezuela."
"I told him this ... Listen to this -- 200 years ago, General Lafayette gave Simon Bolivar a medal with George Washington’s face on it. Bolivar, since then, kept that medal for the rest of his life," Machado said.
"Actually, when you see his portraits," she went on, "you can see the medal there. And it was given by General Lafayette as a sign of the brotherhood between the United States, people of United States, and the people of Venezuela in their fight for freedom against tyranny. 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 a Nobel Peace Prize, and a recognition for his unique commitment with our freedom."
The meeting between Trump and Machado was closed to the press. The Trump administration recently ousted Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro from power in an early morning raid of his Caracas compound. Maduro and his wife, First Lady Cilia Flores, were transported to New York to face charges related to narco-trafficking.
In Maduro's wake, his Vice President Delcy Rodriguez has taken over leadership of the country. Machado, a long-standing opposition leader who was in the running for president in 2023 before she was prosecuted by the Maduro government over alleged tax violations, later backed Edmundo Gonzalez for president. The 2024 election was contested, with Gonzalez saying he'd won two-thirds of the vote and Maduro simply retaining power. Maduro was a protoge of socialist dictator Hugo Chavez.
"It was my Great Honor to meet María Corina Machado, of Venezuela, today. She is a wonderful woman who has been through so much. María presented me with her Nobel Peace Prize for the work I have done. Such a wonderful gesture of mutual respect. Thank you María!" Trump wrote on Truth Social.
Machado spoke about the gift, saying that she did so "because he deserves it. It was a very emotional moment. I decided to present the Nobel Peace Prize medal on behalf of the people of Venezuela." The Nobel Peace Prize committee condemned this transfer of the prize, saying essentially that Nobel Peace Prizes are non-transferable. Her win was for "promoting democratic rights for the people of Venezuela."
"I told him this ... Listen to this -- 200 years ago, General Lafayette gave Simon Bolivar a medal with George Washington’s face on it. Bolivar, since then, kept that medal for the rest of his life," Machado said.
"Actually, when you see his portraits," she went on, "you can see the medal there. And it was given by General Lafayette as a sign of the brotherhood between the United States, people of United States, and the people of Venezuela in their fight for freedom against tyranny. 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 a Nobel Peace Prize, and a recognition for his unique commitment with our freedom."
The meeting between Trump and Machado was closed to the press. The Trump administration recently ousted Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro from power in an early morning raid of his Caracas compound. Maduro and his wife, First Lady Cilia Flores, were transported to New York to face charges related to narco-trafficking.
In Maduro's wake, his Vice President Delcy Rodriguez has taken over leadership of the country. Machado, a long-standing opposition leader who was in the running for president in 2023 before she was prosecuted by the Maduro government over alleged tax violations, later backed Edmundo Gonzalez for president. The 2024 election was contested, with Gonzalez saying he'd won two-thirds of the vote and Maduro simply retaining power. Maduro was a protoge of socialist dictator Hugo Chavez.
