Trump accepts Nobel medal from Venezuelan opposition leader Machado

WASHINGTON – Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado said on Jan 15 that she “presented” her Nobel Peace Prize medal to Mr Donald Trump, in a bid to win over the US President who had sidelined her since overthrowing then Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.

A White House official confirmed that Mr Trump intends to keep the medal.

In a social media post on the evening of Jan 15, he wrote: “Maria presented me with her Nobel Peace Prize for the work I have done. Such a wonderful gesture of mutual respect. Thank you Maria!”

The White House later posted a photo of Mr Trump and Ms Machado, with the President holding up a large, gold-coloured frame displaying the medal.

The accompanying text read, “To President Donald J. Trump In Gratitude for Your Extraordinary Leadership in Promoting Peace through Strength”, and labelled the gesture as a “Personal Symbol of Gratitude on behalf of the Venezuelan People”.

“He deserves it, and it was a very emotional moment,” Ms Machado later told broadcaster Fox News in an interview.

Her extraordinary gesture comes after Mr Trump had said the award should have gone to him instead – and after he refused to back her following the Jan 3

US military operation to capture Maduro

.

Mr Trump has instead backed Maduro’s Vice-President, Ms Delcy Rodriguez, so long as she toes Washington’s line, particularly on access to Venezuela’s vast oil reserves.

“I presented the President of the United States the medal of the Nobel Peace Prize,” Ms Machado told reporters outside the US Capitol, where she met lawmakers after having lunch with Mr Trump at the White House.

Ms Machado, 58, said it was “recognition for his unique commitment with our freedom”.

It was not immediately clear if Mr Trump actually kept the award following the closed-door meeting.

The Norwegian Nobel Committee says its prizes cannot be transferred.

Mr Trump had campaigned hard

to win 2025’s Nobel Peace Prize for what he says are his efforts to stop eight wars.

Instead, it went to Ms Machado, who appeared in Oslo in December to collect her prize – following a daring escape from Venezuela by boat – and then dedicated it to Mr Trump.

Venezuela’s opposition has argued and presented evidence that Maduro stole the 2024 election from the candidate of Ms Machado’s party, Mr Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia – claims supported by Washington.

But Mr Trump has said that Ms Machado does not have enough support among Venezuelans, and opted to stick with former Maduro loyalist Rodriguez.

Mr Trump and Ms Rodriguez

had their first telephone call

on Jan 14, and the White House said on Jan 15 that he “likes what he’s seeing” with Venezuela’s interim leaders.

Ms Rodriguez said, however, that her government was “not afraid” of a diplomatic clash with Washington.

“We know they are very powerful. We know they are a lethal nuclear power... We are not afraid to confront them diplomatically, through political dialogue,” she added.

Ms Rodriguez was delivering Maduro’s state of the nation address to Parliament while the toppled Venezuelan leader is in a New York jail facing drug trafficking charges.

By contrast, Ms Machado, who campaigned for years to end leftist Maduro’s rule, was greeted by jubilant supporters as she left the White House.

And her meeting with Mr Trump was an opportunity for her to bring the issue of a democratic transition back into the foreground.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said as the lunch started that Ms Machado was a “remarkable and brave voice for many of the people of Venezuela”.

But while Ms Leavitt said Mr Trump was “committed to hopefully seeing elections in Venezuela one day”, she would not give a timeline.

Sixth tanker seized

Since Maduro’s capture, Mr Trump has said that

the US will “run” Venezuela

– exerting pressure through a naval blockade and threats of further attacks – but has appeared content to let Ms Rodriguez remain in power so long as oil keeps flowing.

US forces on Jan 14

seized a sixth oil tanker

in its campaign to control the South American country’s critical fossil fuel sector.

Separately, the first US-brokered sale of Venezuelan oil, worth around US$500 million (S$6434 million), has been finalised, a US official told AFP on Jan 15 without identifying the buyer.

Ms Rodriguez in her speech also announced plans for legal reforms to Venezuela’s oil sector – which currently limits the involvement of foreign entities – but did not give specific details.

Washington has also hailed the release of dozens of political prisoners in the past week, though hundreds remain behind bars.

Meanwhile, the shockwaves from the lightning US raid that toppled Maduro continue to reverberate.

Cuba paid tribute on Jan 15 to 32 soldiers killed

in the operation, some of whom had been assigned to Maduro’s protection team, in a ceremony attended by revolutionary leader Raul Castro. AFP, REUTERS