Venezuela's opposition leader visits Trump with her country's future, and a Nobel prize, at stake

WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump lost out on the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize , yet in a rare confluence of geopolitics and chance, he could wind up with the 18-karat gold medal nonetheless. María Corina Machado , who did win the prize, is set to visit the White House on Thursday amid speculation that she may offer Trump her award in appreciation for the U.S. military raid that deposed Venezuela’s repressive leader, Nicolás Maduro. Machado is the Venezuelan opposition figure whom the Nobel selection committee chose last year for an award that has become a Trump fixation . She was honored for promoting democratic rights in the country, a stance that had compelled her to go into hiding. After the U.S. strike on Jan. 3, Machado said she should become Venezuela’s new leader , given the support her coalition received in the country’s 2024 elections. For now, though, the Trump administration has kept her sidelined. Trump is relying, instead, on remnants of Maduro’s regime to lead the country day to day, backing Maduro's vice president, Delcy Rodríguez, for the country's top job. In the hours after the raid, Trump called Machado a “very nice woman” but said she lacked “respect” within the country. Since then, Trump hasn't changed his view of Machado's limitations, a senior White House official said in an interview Wednesday. Venezuela’s interim leadership has willingly complied with the Trump administration’s demands and met its expectations, the person added. Trump told reporters Wednesday that he’d spoken to Rodríguez, the interim president, and found her to be a “terrific person.” White House officials described Machado’s visit as something she had sought and, as a courtesy, Trump granted. A certain convergence of interests underpins the coming meeting. Each has something the other wants. Machado hopes to head a Venezuelan government whose leaders are decided through the ballot box. For that, she needs Trump to usher in a democratic transition. And Trump wants recognition for his peacemaking efforts. He says he deserves not one but multiple Nobel prizes for the various wars he says he has ended through his intervention. “President Trump deserves the Nobel Peace Prize many times over,” White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly said in a prepared statement. “His direct involvement in major conflicts - leveraging tools from America’s military might to our superior consumer market - has brought peace to decades-long wars around the world. However, as the President has said, he doesn’t care about the recognition - only saving lives.” Looming over the meeting is what Machado intends to do with the prize. The Norwegian Nobel Institute said in a statement last week that the winner was Machado and that that unalterable reality “stands for all time.” The prize can’t be shared or transferred , the institute said. Yet there doesn’t appear to be anything stopping Machado from giving Trump her Nobel hardware if that’s what she chooses. After she won the award, she dedicated it to Trump, crediting his support for her democratic movement. In an...

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