Why Venezuela's opposition leader gave Trump her Nobel Peace Prize

Venezuela’s opposition leader Maria Corina Machado said she presented her Nobel Peace Prize medal to Donald Trump during a high-stakes meeting with him at the White House.

Machado, who described the meeting on Thursday as “excellent,” said she was saluting the president’s “unique commitment with our freedom,” despite Trump previously questioning her credibility to take over Venezuela.

“I think today is a historic day for us Venezuelans,” Machado said after the lunchtime meeting.

However she did not provide further details of the exchange. The White House did not reveal whether Trump accepted the medal, although a social media post later by the president suggested he had.

It comes less than two weeks after US forces seized Venezuela’s longtime leader, Nicolas Maduro, and his wife at a heavily guarded compound in Caracas and brought them to New York to stand trial on drug trafficking charges.

Trump has made no secret of how much he craves winning the Nobel Peace Prize, claiming he holds an unprecedented record as peacemaker by ending seven wars.

However it was Machado who was awarded the prize last October for her work promoting democratic rights and “for her struggle to achieve a just and peaceful transition from dictatorship to democracy.”

The move angered Trump allies, with White House communications director Steven Cheung criticising the Nobel Committee for placing “politics over peace.”

But Machado used her win to thank Trump, even dedicating the award to the US President, saying: “I dedicate this prize to the suffering people of Venezuela and to President Trump for his decisive support of our cause!”

Earlier this week, Machado said she wanted to tell Trump in person that she and the Venezuelan people “want to, to give it to him and share it with him.

“What he has done is historic. It’s a huge step towards a democratic transition,” she told Fox News.

Upon leaving the White House, Machado said: “I presented the President of the United States the medal, the Nobel Peace Prize,” saying she had done so “as a recognition for his unique commitment with our freedom.”

After their meeting on Thursday, Trump suggested he had accepted the medal, writing on TruthSocial: “Maria presented me with her Nobel Peace Prize for the work I have done. Such a wonderful gesture of mutual respect.”

The Nobel Institute had previously said Machado could not give her award to Trump. The White House said whether he accepted it would be entirely up to the president himself.

Despite her warm words and dedications, relations between Trump and Machado have appeared shaky.

Shortly after the operation to remove Maduro from power, Trump refused to back Machado as a future Venezuelan leader, saying it would be “very tough for her” because she “doesn’t have the support or the respect within the country.”

Machado’s party is widely believed to have won elections in 2024, which were rejected by Maduro. Machado was banned from running in them by a top court stacked with Maduro allies.

Instead Trump has heaped praise on Venezuela’s interim President Delcy Rodriguez, saying earlier this week that “she’s been very good to deal with.”

During Thursday’s meeting in Washington, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Trump stood by his “realistic” assessment that Machado did not currently have the support needed to lead the country in the short term.

Leavitt added that Trump supported new Venezuelan elections “when the time is right” but did not say when that might be.

But Machado’s latest gesture has made clear she is determined to win influence over the running of her country and forge a fruitful relationship with Trump.

Following their lunch, Machado told reporters how she had reminded Trump of the historic links between their nations.

“I told him this … Listen to this — 200 years ago, General Lafayette gave Simon Bolivar a medal with George Washington’s face on it. Bolivar, since then, kept that medal for the rest of his life,” she said.

Seeking allies and influence

The meeting, which appeared to last slightly over an hour, marked the first time the two have met in person.

Machado then met with a group of Republican and Democratic senators on Capitol Hill, where she has generally found more enthusiastic allies.

Democratic Senator Chris Murphy said Machado told them: “If there’s not some progress, real progress towards a transition in power, and/or elections in the next several months, we should all be worried.”

“She reminded us that Delcy Rodriguez is, in many ways, worse than Maduro,” he added.

Bernie Moreno, an Ohio Republican, said Machado “delivered a message that loud and clear: What President Trump did was the most important, significant event in Latin America. That getting rid of Maduro was absolutely essential.”

A Venezuelan political analyst told the BBC that many people in the country believe Machado’s efforts to weaken the regime aided Trump’s operation to overthrow Maduro.

“Personally, I doubt that Trump fully believes what he said. If he truly thought Machado lacked support in Venezuela, why would he host her at the White House?” he said.

Machado began challenging the ruling party in 2004, when the nongovernmental organisation she co-founded promoted a referendum to recall then-President Hugo Chavez.

The initiative failed, and Machado and fellow executives were charged with conspiracy.

A year later, she drew the anger of Chavez and his allies again for travelling to Washington to meet President George W Bush.

Almost two decades later, she marshalled millions of Venezuelans to reject Chavez’s successor, Maduro, for another term in the 2024 election.

स्रोत: Inews Co Uk