Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado presented her Nobel Peace Prize medal to President Donald Trump during a White House meeting, prompting sharp criticism from Norwegian officials and experts who decried the move as unprecedented and disrespectful to the prestigious award.
Machado, awarded the prize last October for her democracy efforts in Venezuela, handed over the medal to Trump on Thursday as “a recognition of his unique commitment with our freedom,” she said.
Trump, in his second term, has strived to resolve international conflicts and expressed frustration with the Norwegian Nobel Committee’s decisions.
Trump accepted the gift, posting on Truth Social that it was a “wonderful gesture of mutual respect.”
A White House-released photo showed him beside Machado with a gold-framed plaque containing the medal and a dedication noting his “principled and decisive action to secure a free Venezuela.”
The gesture came amid Machado’s push for U.S. support in Venezuela’s leadership transition following the ousting of Nicolás Maduro by American forces on January 3.
The Trump administration has backed Maduro’s former vice president, Delcy Rodriguez, as acting leader, sidelining Machado despite earlier U.S. recognition of opposition candidate Edmundo González as president-elect after the disputed 2024 election.
Machado, who escaped Venezuela after nearly a year in hiding, described the handover in a Fox News interview as a “very emotional moment” and said Trump “deserved it.”
She added, “It was a huge responsibility, because I did it on behalf of the Venezuelan people.”
Machado emerged from the meeting carrying a Trump-branded swag bag but received no public commitment of backing. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt called the discussion “good and positive,” but affirmed Trump’s view that Machado lacks sufficient support to lead Venezuela has not changed.
In Norway, the act drew swift condemnation.
“That’s completely unheard of,” said Janne Haaland Matlary, a University of Oslo professor and former politician, in an interview with public broadcaster NRK. “It’s a total lack of respect for the award, on her part.”
The Norwegian Nobel Committee, which administers the peace prize established under Alfred Nobel’s 1895 will, stated last week that the award “cannot be revoked, shared or transferred to others.”
On social media on Thursday, the Nobel Peace Center clarified: “A medal can change owners, but the title of a Nobel Peace Prize laureate cannot.”
The peace prize, one of five Nobels created by the Swedish dynamite inventor who died in 1896, honors contributions to “fraternity between nations” and includes an 18-carat gold medal — now made from recycled materials weighing about 175 grams — plus over $1 million.
While medals have been sold, such as Russian journalist Dmitry Muratov’s 2021 prize, which fetched $103.5 million at auction in 2022 to aid Ukraine humanitarian efforts, or American scientist James Watson’s 1962 medal, which was sold for $4,757,000 in 2014, the committee emphasizes that prizes cannot be revoked or reconsidered, per Nobel’s statutes.
Recipients can decline, as French author Jean-Paul Sartre did in 1964 for literature, citing fears of institutionalization, or as Vietnamese politician Le Duc Tho did in 1973 for peace, arguing that true peace in Vietnam remained elusive.
