María Corina Machado, the Venezuelan opposition leader, has presented her Nobel peace prize medal to US President Donald Trump during a White House meeting. Machado, who received the award last year for her struggle against Nicolás Maduro's regime, said the gesture was in recognition of Trump's commitment to Venezuelan freedom.
Trump later posted on Truth Social that Machado had given him her Nobel peace prize for the work he had done, calling it a wonderful gesture of mutual respect. The White House released a photograph of the medal in a gold frame with an inscription thanking Trump for his actions to secure a free Venezuela.
The Nobel organisers had previously stated that the medal could change owners but the title of laureate could not, and that the award could not be shared or transferred. Despite this, Machado went ahead with her symbolic act, which analysts see as an attempt to salvage her movement's hopes after Trump sidelined her following his capture of Maduro.
Trump chose not to recognise Machado as Venezuela's new leader, instead backing Vice-President Delcy Rodríguez. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Trump's assessment was based on realities on the ground and that his opinion had not changed.
Machado is not the first Nobel laureate to part with their medal; previous examples include Ernest Hemingway, Dmitry Muratov, and Leon Lederman. However, she appears to be the first to do so for explicitly political reasons.
