WASHINGTON: Venezuelan opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner María Corina Machado is set to meet United States President Donald Trump on Thursday, the White House has confirmed.
The visit comes just weeks after Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro was seized in Caracas by US forces. Despite the dramatic intervention, Trump has declined to formally endorse Machado, whose movement claims victory in the country’s widely contested 2024 elections, as Venezuela’s new leader.
Instead, Washington has thrown its support behind Delcy Rodríguez, Maduro’s former vice-president, backing her as Venezuela’s interim president.
Machado said last week that she hoped to personally thank Trump for the action taken against Maduro and said she would like to give him her Nobel Peace Prize. Trump described the gesture as “a great honour”, though the Nobel Committee later clarified that the prize could not be transferred. Earlier, Trump had voiced displeasure over Machado’s decision to accept the Nobel Peace Prize — an award the president has long coveted.
Asked on Friday whether receiving Machado’s prize might alter his view of her political role, Trump said: “She might be involved in some aspect of it.”
“I will have to speak to her. I think it’s very nice that she wants to come in. And that’s what I understand the reason is,” he added.
Earlier this month, following Maduro’s ouster, Trump questioned Machado’s standing inside Venezuela. “She doesn’t have the support within, or the respect within, the country,” he said. “She’s a very nice woman, but she doesn’t have the respect.”
The US has so far maintained its support for Rodríguez as Venezuela’s interim leader. Trump has described Rodríguez as an “ally”, and US officials have not charged her with any crimes.
“Delcy Rodríguez and her team have been very cooperative with the United States,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Monday.
Machado, however, has insisted that her coalition should “absolutely” be in charge of the country. She has sharply criticised Rodríguez, saying Venezuelans did not trust her leadership.
“Nobody trusted Rodríguez,” Machado told CBS, describing the interim leader as “one of the main architects… of repression for innocent people” in the South American country.
“Everybody in Venezuela and abroad knows perfectly who she is and the role she has played,” she said.
The former legislator, who received the Nobel Peace Prize last year, has described US military action in Venezuela as “a major step towards restoring prosperity and rule of law and democracy in Venezuela”.
Rodríguez has rejected claims by Trump that the United States is effectively running Venezuela.
“The Venezuelan government rules our country, and no-one else does,” she said in a televised address. “There is no external agent governing Venezuela.”
