{"id":1331,"date":"2026-01-16T23:15:39","date_gmt":"2026-01-16T17:45:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsaxis.com\/?p=1331"},"modified":"2026-01-16T23:15:39","modified_gmt":"2026-01-16T17:45:39","slug":"venezuelan-oppn-leader-machado-presents-nobel-medal-to-trump-at-white-house","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsaxis.com\/?p=1331","title":{"rendered":"Venezuelan oppn leader Machado presents Nobel medal to Trump at White House"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-gallery has-nested-images columns-default is-cropped wp-block-gallery-1 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"284\" height=\"178\" data-id=\"1332\" src=\"https:\/\/newsaxis.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Trump.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1332\"\/><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Washington, Venezuelan opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Maria Corina Machado said she presented her Nobel Peace Prize medal to US President Donald Trump during a closed-door meeting at the White House, framing the gesture as a historic symbol of shared struggles for freedom between the two nations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI presented the president of the United States the medal of the Nobel Peace Prize,\u201d Machado told reporters in Washington after the meeting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>She said she recounted to Trump an episode from two centuries ago, when French General Marquis de Lafayette gifted Venezuelan independence leader Sim\u00f3n Bolivar a medal bearing the likeness of George Washington.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cTwo hundred years in history, the people of Bolivar are giving back to the heir of Washington a medal, in this case the medal of the Nobel Peace Prize as a recognition for his unique commitment with our freedom,\u201d Machado told reporters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The meeting took place over lunch in the Private Dining Room of the White House. It marked the first in-person encounter between Trump and Machado. Before the meeting, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said that the president was \u201clooking forward to this meeting\u201d and expected it to be \u201ca good and positive discussion.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>She described Machado as \u201ca remarkable and brave voice for many of the people of Venezuela,\u201d adding that Trump was eager to hear her assessment of \u201cthe realities on the ground in the country and what is taking place.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Leavitt also noted that the administration has maintained regular contact with Venezuela\u2019s interim leadership under Delcy Rodr\u00edguez, saying US officials have found them \u201cextremely cooperative.\u201d She cited a $500 million energy deal and the release of political prisoners, including five Americans, as signs of that cooperation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It remains unclear whether Trump formally accepted the Nobel medal. The Norwegian Nobel Institute has previously stated that once awarded, a Nobel Peace Prize cannot be transferred, shared, or revoked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Machado\u2019s White House visit came amid mixed signals from Trump about her political future. Earlier this month, he told reporters it would be \u201cvery tough\u201d for her to lead Venezuela, saying she \u201cdoesn\u2019t have the support within or the respect within the country.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The president has also publicly praised Rodr\u00edguez, calling her a \u201cterrific person\u201d after a recent phone call, even as lawmakers from both parties have urged continued US backing for a democratic transition in Venezuela.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Following her White House meeting, Machado headed to Capitol Hill for a bipartisan session with US senators hosted by Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin and Senate Foreign Relations Committee Ranking Member Jeanne Shaheen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cMar\u00eda Corina Machado is an extraordinary person who is completely deserving of the Nobel Peace Prize after having risked her life to bring about change to the Venezuelan government and people,\u201d Durbin said. Shaheen warned that \u201cremoving a dictator is not the same as restoring democracy,\u201d adding that the United States must ensure Venezuela does not \u201csimply transition from one authoritarian to another.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Republican and Democratic senators alike praised Machado\u2019s leadership and courage, while some also criticized the Trump administration\u2019s approach to Venezuela following the removal of Nicol\u00e1s Maduro.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Machado\u2019s US visit followed a private meeting earlier this week with Pope Leo XIV at the Vatican, where she sought his intercession for the release of political prisoners. She reemerged publicly in December after 11 months in hiding to accept the Nobel Peace Prize in Norway.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Washington, Venezuelan opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Maria Corina Machado said she presented her Nobel Peace Prize medal to US President Donald Trump during a closed-door meeting at [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1332,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1331","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-display","category-international","has_thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsaxis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1331","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsaxis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsaxis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsaxis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsaxis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1331"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/newsaxis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1331\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1333,"href":"https:\/\/newsaxis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1331\/revisions\/1333"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsaxis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1332"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsaxis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1331"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsaxis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1331"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsaxis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1331"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}