Why Trump still isn’t a Nobel Peace Prize winner despite being gifted Machado’s medal

Maria Corina Machado has handed her Nobel Peace Prize to Donald Trump during her first in-person meeting with the US president at the White House.

The Venezuelan opposition leader was given the award last year but Trump made no secret about the fact that it should have been his a long time ago.

After President Nicolas Maduro’s dramatic overnight capture, many hoped Machado would lead a new democratic government - but she was dismissed by Trump who claimed she lacked “respect” and “support” across the country.

White House sources said Machado had committed the “ultimate sin” by accepting the award despite her dedicating it to Trump, according to theWashington Post.

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“If she had turned it down and said, ‘I can’t accept it because it’s Donald Trump’s,’ she’d be the president of Venezuela today,” they said. Although she did not make it in time for the ceremony, in Oslo, Machado was smuggled out of Venezuela and injured after a three-day journey.

The Nobel committee is unequivocal that a prize cannot be transferred once announced.

“Once a Nobel prize is announced, it cannot be revoked, shared, or transferred to others,” organisers wrote in a statement on 9 January. “The decision is final and stands for all time.”

On Thursday, Nobel organisers wrote a statement on X/Twitter following news of Trump and Machado’s meeting, saying: “A medal can change owners, but the title of a Nobel peace prize laureate cannot.”

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Machado, 58, was born in Caracas on 7 October 1967.

Her father was a prominent businessman in Venezuela’s steel industry, with her upper-class roots making her a target of criticism from the country’s governing socialist party.

Machado is an industrial engineer by training, studying engineering at university before she gained a master’s degree in finance, and went on to have a short career in business.

In 1992, she also started a foundation for orphaned children living on the streets of Caracas, the Atenea Foundation.

But she went on to co-found the vote-monitoring organisation Súmate in 2002, which aims to promote free and fair elections, marking her official entry into politics.

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In 2010, Machado won a record number of votes to get elected to the National Assembly, where she served from 2011 until the regime expelled her from office in 2014.

She later became the national coordinator of the liberal political party Vente Venezuela, which she co-founded in 2012 and currently leads. Five years later, she helped found the Soy Venezuela alliance, aimed at bringing together pro-democracy forces from across the political divide.

Machado won a resounding victory in the opposition's primary election in 2023, and her rallies attracted large crowds. However, a ban from holding public office prevented her from running for president against Nicolas Maduro in an election in 2024, and she went into hiding. Mr Gonzalez took her place, having never run for office before.

The lead-up to the election saw widespread repression, including disqualifications, arrests and human rights violations, with Maduro's government routinely targeting its real or perceived opponents.

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The crackdown on dissent only increased after the country’s National Electoral Council, which is stacked with Maduro loyalists, declared him the winner despite credible evidence to the contrary.

The election results sparked protests across the country, to which the government responded with force and ended with more than 20 people dead. They also prompted an end to diplomatic relations between Venezuela and various foreign countries, including Argentina.

Machado emerged from hiding in January to make a brief appearance during a protest before the inauguration of Maduro – whose time in office has been marked by a deep economic and social crisis. She was briefly arrested and then freed.

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Machado now becomes the 20th woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize, of the 112 individuals who have been honoured.

She advocates for liberal economic reforms, including the privatisation of state-owned enterprises such as PDVSA, Venezuela’s oil company. She also supports the creation of welfare programs aimed at aiding the country's poorest citizens.

Her political activism has come at a cost, leaving her isolated as nearly all of her senior advisers have been detained or forced to leave the country. Machado herself has accused Maduro's administration of operating as a “criminal mafia”.

Though sometimes criticised for being egotistical, even by her own mother, Machado rarely speaks about herself in public. Instead, she frames her campaign as a collective struggle for redemption and unity, aiming to inspire hope among Venezuelans weary of economic hardship and social decay.