In a historic and highly unusual meeting at the White House on Thursday, January 15, 2026, Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado presented her 2025 Nobel Peace Prize medal to U.S. President Donald Trump.
The meeting took place against the backdrop of a dramatic geopolitical shift following “Operation Absolute Resolve,” a U.S. military raid on January 3, 2026, which resulted in the capture of Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, in Caracas.
The Medal Presentation
Machado, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in October 2025 for her “tireless work promoting democratic rights,” traveled to Washington to meet Trump personally. During their discussion in the Oval Office, she handed over the physical medallion as a “personal symbol of gratitude” for the U.S. intervention.
- Trump’s Response: In a post on Truth Social, President Trump called it a “wonderful gesture of mutual respect” and praised Machado as a “wonderful woman who has been through so much.”
- The Inscription: The frame containing the medal included a message thanking Trump for his “extraordinary leadership in promoting peace through strength.”
- A Symbolic Link: Machado reportedly compared the gift to the 1825 gesture where General Lafayette presented Simon Bolivar with a medal of George Washington, stating that she was returning a “medal of freedom” to the “heir of Washington.”
The Nobel Committee’s Stance
The Norwegian Nobel Committee and the Nobel Peace Center quickly issued statements clarifying the rules of the award following the news:
- Final and Non-Transferable: The committee emphasized that once a Nobel Prize is awarded, it “cannot be revoked, shared, or transferred to others.”
- Owner vs. Laureate: While the physical gold medal can change hands, the official title of “Nobel Peace Prize Laureate” remains legally and historically with María Corina Machado alone.
Political Tension and “The Ultimate Sin”
Despite the high-profile meeting, the political relationship between Trump and Machado remains complex. Reports from early January suggested that Trump was hesitant to back Machado as Venezuela’s interim leader because she had accepted the Nobel Prize—an honor Trump has long coveted and felt he deserved for his own diplomatic efforts (including his claims of stopping eight wars in 2025).
- Interim Leadership: Trump has notably signaled a willingness to work with Delcy Rodríguez (Maduro’s former Vice President), who was sworn in as interim president on January 5.
- White House Stance: Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt stated that while the meeting with Machado was “positive,” Trump’s assessment that Machado lacks sufficient internal support to govern “has not changed.”