Washington: Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado presented her Nobel Peace Prize to U.S. President Donald Trump during a meeting at the White House on Thursday. This move is seen as an attempt by Machado to influence Trump's decision regarding Venezuela's political future. White House officials later confirmed that Trump intended to retain the medal.
According to Thai News Agency, later that evening, Mr. Trump communicated via social media that Ms. Machado had awarded him the Nobel Peace Prize in recognition of his work. He praised it as a wonderful display of mutual respect and thanked her for the gesture. Ms. Machado, for her part, stated that her discussion with Mr. Trump went very well and emphasized that this valuable gift was a tribute to Mr. Trump's commitment to the freedom of the Venezuelan people.
This attempt to persuade Mr. Trump comes after he rejected the idea of pushing Ms. Machado to succeed Nicol¡s Maduro as leader of Venezuela. Previously, Mr. Trump had openly expressed his desire to receive the Nobel Peace Prize and had shown dissatisfaction at not being nominated. Although Ms. Machado did give Mr. Trump the medal, the Norwegian Nobel Institute has clarified that the award remains solely hers, as Nobel Prizes are non-transferable, non-shareable, and non-revocable.
Furthermore, when asked by the press earlier whether he wanted Ms. Machado to present the award to him, Mr. Trump denied it, stating that he had not said so and acknowledging that she was the true winner.
The lunch, which lasted about an hour, marked the first face-to-face meeting between the two before Machado traveled to meet with a group of Republican and Democratic senators at the Capitol building, who are her long-standing allies and supporters.