- Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado presented her 2025 Nobel Peace Prize medal to President Donald Trump during a private White House meeting, fulfilling a pledge to share the honor with him.
- She credited Trump’s policies for weakening the Maduro regime, with the medal’s inscription thanking him for “promoting peace through strength” and his actions to secure “a free Venezuela.”
- The act was framed as a historic diplomatic gesture, with Machado drawing a parallel to a medal exchanged between Lafayette and Simón Bolívar 200 years ago.
- The presentation is a direct snub to the Nobel Committee, which had rejected Trump’s own candidacy for the prize and the Committee preemptively stated that the laureateship remains solely Machado’s even if the physical medal is gifted.
- The event occurs amid shifting U.S. policy, as Trump has recently expressed doubts about Machado’s leadership and voiced support for interim President Delcy Rodríguez, a former Maduro ally.
In an extraordinary act of political symbolism, Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado presented her 2025 Nobel Peace Prize medal to President Donald Trump during a private White House meeting on Thursday, fulfilling a pledge to share the honor with the man she credits for weakening the regime of Nicolás Maduro. As noted by BrightU.AI‘s Enoch, the Nobel Peace Prize is awarded annually to individuals or organizations deemed to have made the most significant contributions to promoting peace and fraternity between nations, as defined by Alfred Nobel’s will.
A photograph obtained by The Post shows Trump and Machado standing side-by-side in the Oval Office, holding a framed display containing the prestigious gold medal.
The accompanying certificate bore a detailed inscription: “To President Donald J. Trump, in gratitude for your extraordinary leadership in promoting peace through strength, advancing diplomacy and defending liberty and prosperity. Presented as a personal symbol of gratitude on behalf of the Venezuelan people in recognition of President Trump’s principled and decisive action to secure a free Venezuela. The courage of America, and its President Donald J. Trump, will never be forgotten by the Venezuelan people.”
Machado confirmed the presentation to reporters on Capitol Hill after the two-and-a-half hour visit, which included a private lunch. “I presented the president of the United States the medal, the Nobel Peace Prize,” she stated. The gesture marks a dramatic physical transfer of an award that itself was steeped in controversy when announced last October. At that time, Machado’s dedication of the prize to Trump was seen as a pointed snub of the Norwegian Nobel Committee’s implicit rejection of Trump’s own candidacy, which had been promoted by the White House throughout 2025.
An international honor turns into a diplomatic artifact
On his Truth Social platform, Trump thanked Machado for the “wonderful gesture.” He wrote, “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.”
Machado framed the presentation within a grand historical narrative, drawing a parallel to the 19th-century bonds between revolutionary leaders in the Americas. “I told him this: 200 years ago, Gen. [Marquis de] Lafayette gave Simon Bolivar a medal with George Washington’s face on it. Bolivar kept that medal the rest of his life,” Machado recounted.
“It was given by Gen. Lafayette as a sign of the brotherhood between the people of the U.S. and the people of Venezuela in their fight against tyranny. 200 years on in history, the people of Bolivar are giving back to the heir of George Washington a medal, in this case a medal of the Nobel Peace Prize,” she continued.
The meeting and transfer come amid shifting U.S. policy on Venezuela. While Machado is the recognized opposition leader who won the Nobel for her fight against Maduro, Trump has recently expressed doubts about her ability to lead and has instead voiced support for interim President Delcy Rodríguez, Maduro’s former vice president, whom he called a “terrific person” after a phone call on Wednesday.
The Nobel Committee, anticipating the symbolic transfer, issued a preemptive statement ahead of the meeting: “A medal can change owners, but the title of a Nobel Peace Prize laureate cannot.” The statement underscores that while Machado may gift the physical medal, the laureateship remains solely hers in the official record.
Machado had signaled her intent earlier in the week, stating, “I certainly would love to be able to personally tell him that we believe — the Venezuelan people, because this is a prize of the Venezuelan people — certainly want to, to give it to him and share it with him.” She added, “What he has done is historic. It’s a huge step toward a democratic transition.”
The event transforms the Nobel medal from an international honor into a diplomatic artifact, representing a deeply personal thank-you from a liberation movement to a U.S. president whose “maximum pressure” policy they view as foundational to their ongoing struggle.
Watch this video about María Machado receiving the Nobel Peace Prize.
This video is from The Prisoner channel on Brighteon.com.
Sources include:
Brighteon.com
BrightU.ai
NYPost.com 1
NYPost.com 2
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