After being excluded from US President Donald Trump’s strategy for Venezuela in the aftermath of deposed leader Nicolas Maduro’s capture, opposition leader Maria Corina Machado expressed willingness to
share her Nobel Peace Prize with him.
Machado, who won the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize for opposing what the Norwegian Nobel Committee described as a dictatorship, told Fox News on Monday night that she wanted to dedicate the award to Trump.
“As soon as I learnt we had been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, I dedicated it to President Trump because I believed he deserved it. A lot of people said it was impossible to achieve what he did on January 3,” she said, referring to the US military operation in Caracas.
Marina Corina Machado offers to share the Nobel Peace Prize with President Trump:
“As soon as I learned we had been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize I dedicated it to President Trump because I believed he deserved it… We want to give it to him. Share it with him.” pic.twitter.com/NMnINIrbAV
— The American Conservative (@amconmag) January 6, 2026
“I believed he deserved it. I think he has proven to the world what he means. January 3 will go down in history as the day justice defeated tyranny. It’s a milestone. It’s not only huge for the Venezuelans, but a huge step for humanity,” the Nobel Peace Prize winner added.
“I would certainly love to be able to personally tell him that we believe, the Venezuelan people…certainly want to give it to him and share it with him,” she added.
Upon being asked whether she had spoken to Trump since winning the prize, Machado said, “Actually, I spoke with President Trump on October 10, the same day the (Noble Peace) Prize was announced, (but) not since then.”
Hours after Maduro was detained in a dramatic night-time US raid, Machado declared that “the hour of freedom has arrived,” raising expectations that the opposition could lead the oil-rich Latin American nation after years of repression. Those hopes dimmed when Trump publicly distanced himself from her, saying she “doesn’t have the support within the country.”
“I think it would be very tough for her to be the leader. She doesn’t have the support within or the respect within the country. She’s a very nice woman, but she doesn’t have the respect,” Trump said at a news conference.
Machado had left Venezuela last month to travel to Norway to accept the award and has not returned since. She said she was “planning to go back home” soon.
