Machado says she has no regrets over symbolic Nobel Peace Prize gift to Trump

MADRID: Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado said on Saturday that she had “no regrets” about symbolically giving her Nobel Peace Prize to US President Donald Trump in January.

Speaking at a news conference in Madrid, Machado said, “There is a leader in the world, a head of state in the world who risked the lives of his country’s citizens for Venezuela’s freedom.”

She had presented her Nobel medal to Trump during a meeting at the White House two weeks after he ordered US forces to attack Caracas and seize Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro.

Trump, who has long sought the Nobel Peace Prize, is currently involved in the Middle East war he launched with his ally, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, with air strikes on Iran at the end of February.

Machado defends decision

The Norwegian Nobel Committee, which awards the peace prize, said after Machado handed over her 2025 Nobel medal that the honour it represents “cannot be revoked, shared, or transferred to others”.

Machado said Trump’s operation to capture Maduro, who is being held in New York on US drug charges, was “is something we Venezuelans will never forget”. She added: “Consequently, no, I have no regrets” about giving the medal to Trump.

Machado had been in hiding before leaving Venezuela in December to receive her Nobel prize in Oslo.

Return plans and political context

At the Madrid news conference, Machado said she was arranging her return to Venezuela in coordination with Washington. “I am speaking with the US government, and we are working in coordination, with mutual respect and understanding,” she said.

She also said she believed Washington was “key to advancing a democratic transition” in Venezuela.

Her remarks came after Venezuela’s opposition last week called for presidential elections.

Machado has not said whether she would contest any future vote. She had been barred from running in the 2024 presidential election, after which Maduro claimed victory and re-election.

“I am speaking with the US government, and we are working in coordination, with mutual respect and understanding,” Machado said.

The developments add to the political uncertainty in Venezuela, where Machado remains a central opposition figure after being prevented from taking part in the last presidential contest.

Her latest comments focused on her support for Trump’s actions against Maduro and on her view that the United States remains central to any future democratic transition in the country.