Washington, USA – Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado said Thursday she had presented United States President Donald Trump with her Nobel Peace Prize medal at their meeting in the White House.
“I presented the president of the United States the medal, the Nobel Peace Prize,” Machado said, before launching into an anecdote about Latin American revolutionary Simón Bolívar.
Machado said she told the president about an incident involving the Marquis de Lafayette, a French military officer who joined the Continental Army during the American Revolution against the British, and Simón Bolívar, the hero who led Venezuela and other South American countries to independence.
“Two hundred years ago, General Lafayette gave Simón Bolívar a medal with George Washington’s face on it. Bolivar, since then, kept the medal for the rest of his life,” Machado said
“Two 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 to our freedom,” she added.
The activist and politician, who dedicated her Nobel Prize to Trump when she received it, said last week that she wanted to share the prize with him. However, the Norwegian Nobel Institute explained that Nobel Prizes cannot be transferred to third parties.
Thursday was the first meeting between Machado and Trump, after US forces deposed President Nicolas Maduro (2013-2025) during a military attack in Venezuela, which resulted in the capture and transfer of Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, to New York to face alleged drug trafficking charges.
So far, Trump and his administration have ruled out Machado and her opposition movement for the first stage of transition in Venezuela on the grounds that the leader does not have the necessary “support” within the country.
Instead, they opted for Maduro’s vice president, now interim President Delcy Rodríguez, who assumed power as acting president with Trump’s endorsement, who claims that the Venezuelan nation is under Washington’s tutelage.
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