Maria Corina Machado will meet with President Donald Trump, the man she bested to win the Nobel Peace Prize.
By Catholics for Catholics
Maria Corina Machado, Venezuela’s top opposition leader and winner of the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize, is scheduled to meet with President Donald Trump Thursday at the White House.
Though Machado, 58, gained international respect for earning the Nobel Prize, she did not win the endorsement of Trump to lead Venezuela, after U.S. forces nabbed former President Nicolas Maduro, who is now in a New York jail facing drug trafficking charges. The President said he is taking charge of the South American country and will be handling its vast oil market for years, according to a story by Newsmax.
“She doesn’t have the support within, or the respect within, the country,” Mr. Trump said about Machado on Jan. 3. “She’s a very nice woman, but she doesn’t have the respect.”
Still, Machado has hailed Trump, who competed with her for the Nobel prize but lost. Machado hinted that she would transfer the recognition to the American President, but the Norwegian Noble Institute said the prize cannot be shared, revoked, or transferred.
Trump planning to meet with Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado https://t.co/h0TJaEKj42 pic.twitter.com/rQlcIQq52X
— New York Post (@nypost) January 9, 2026
“I certainly would love to be able to personally tell him that we believe — the Venezuelan people, because this is a prize of the Venezuelan people — certainly want to, to give it to him and share it with him,” Machado told Fox News’ Sean Hannity last week. “What he has done is historic. It’s a huge step towards a democratic transition.”
The Nobel institute conferred Machado the distinguished prize for her work in promoting a peaceful transition to democracy in Venezuela. But Trump said he was disappointed he did not receive the award, saying his administration had managed to settle global conflicts in his quest for peace.
On Monday, Machado met with Pope Leo XIV, where she asked the Holy Father to intercede for the release of hundreds of political prisoners held in Venezuela, according to The Associated Press.
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