"He Deserves It": Maria Machado Offers Trump Her Nobel Prize After Maduro Op

Days after the US forces captured Nicolas Maduro, Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado said she wanted to share her Nobel Peace Prize with American President Donald Trump. She had expressed a similar wish in October 2025 when she received the honour.

“I would certainly love to be able to personally tell him that we believe the Venezuelan people… certainly want to give [The Nobel Peace Prize] to him and share it with him,” she told Fox News.

“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,” she added.

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

Asked whether she had spoken to Trump since receiving the Nobel Peace Prize, Machado said, “Actually, I spoke with President Trump on October 10, the same day the (Nobel Peace) Prize was announced, (but) not since then.”

Machado's remarks came days after Maduro, the sitting President of Venezuela, was picked up in a nighttime raid by US forces. After America announced that Maduro was in its custody, Machado declared that “the hour of freedom has arrived,” leading people to expect that the opposition could soon assume leadership of the oil-rich nation after years of repression. Delcy Rodriguez, Maduro's second-in-command, has now been sworn in as President.

Machado won the Nobel Peace Prize in October last year. The Nobel Committee cited her long-standing struggle for democratic rights and a peaceful transition from dictatorship. Barred from contesting Venezuela's election, she campaigned for opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia, whom many in the West view as the winner. Machado, who has been in hiding for over a year, openly supported Trump's military pressure on Nicolas Maduro, calling it necessary for democratic change.

“I dedicate this prize to the suffering people of Venezuela and to President Trump for his decisive support of our cause!” she wrote on X at the time.

Still, Trump has chosen to conditionally back Delcy Rodriguez as interim leader. Of Machado, he said, “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.”