Venezuela opposition leader María Corina Machado gifted her 2025 Nobel Peace Prize to President Donald Trump at the White House Thursday.
Machado met with the president a day after Trump spoke with Venezuela’s acting president, Delcy Rodriguez, over the phone. Machado had previously dedicated her award to Trump last year “for his decisive support of our cause.”
“I presented the President of the United States the medal, the Nobel Peace Prize,” Machado told reporters on Thursday, according to the Associated Press. She said Trump deserved the accolade “as a recognition for his unique commitment with our freedom.”
Trump thanked Machado for the award and complimented the opposition leader in a post on Truth Social.
“It was my Great Honor to meet María Corina Machado, of Venezuela, today. She is a wonderful woman who has been through so much,” said Trump. “María presented me with her Nobel Peace Prize for the work I have done. Such a wonderful gesture of mutual respect. Thank you María!”
Top Trump officials have repeated the administration’s commitment to long-term democratic elections in Venezuela, however, the president has not placed a timeline on when elections might happen. Securing trustworthy democratic elections is one of the top priorities of Machado, whose party has been kept out of power in part due to election rigging by Venezuela’s Communist regime.
After ousting former Venezuela strongman Nicolás Maduro earlier this month and forcibly extraditing him to New York to face trial on drug-related charges, the Trump administration has left Rodriguez to steady the Venezuela government while using an oil embargo to force Caracas to align itself with U.S. interests.
Trump has declined to pressure Rodriguez to turn over the government to the opposition. The White House was reportedly convinced prior to Maduro’s arrest that Machado did not have the sway among Venezuela’s government and power brokers to stabilize the government. Some of the reforms that Washington has tasked Caracas with include ridding foreign influence from nations such as China and Cuba from Venezuela’s government.
Washington has kept up pressure on Venezuela by restricting Caracas’ ability to sell oil on the international market. The United States has seized at least half a dozen oil tankers loaded with Venezuelan crude. The ships belong to a “ghost fleet” of foreign vessels that often use deception to carry sanctioned goods.
Instead, Washington has struck a deal with Rodriguez’s administration and will handle the sale of Venezuelan oil on international markets. The Trump administration says it can secure a higher price for Venezuela while keeping influence over Caracas by controlling the flow of its most important export.