Former Deputy of the National Assembly of Venezuela and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Maria Corina Machado publicly announced her gratitude towards President Donald Trump on January 5th, 2026, days after U.S. troops captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. President Trump has long coveted the Nobel Prize, and has taken this opportunity to vie for Machado’s. “The Venezuelan people certainly want to give (the Nobel Prize) to him andd share it with him,” Machado said in an interview with FOX News. The Nobel Peace Prize is given to honor individuals who take significant steps in achieving peace and furthering human rights.
Upon hearing about Machado’s plans of sharing the prize, President Trump briefly commented that receiving it would be a “great honor.” On January 15th, Machado told interviewers that she had bestowed President Trump with the award in a private meeting at the White House. Various press outlets have theorized that presenting the award to Trump is an attempt to further Machado’s hopes of replacing Nicolas Maduro as president of Venezuela.
The nomination of the Nobel Peace Prize serves as a symbolic gesture. It sends a message both domestically and internationally that democratic values and human rights are being supported, even if no immediate political change follows. This symbolism is especially significant with Machado because she built her political career around openly challenging authoritarianism, electoral fraud, and human rights abuses in Venezuela, often at great risk to herself. President Trump, meanwhile, has a track record of perpetrating alleged war crimes, among other criminal offenses, conflicting with the core values of the Nobel Peace Prize. Machado, meanwhile, has openly and consistently advocated for democratic restoration. The two leaders represent nearly opposite relationships to the idea of democracy.
On January 9th, directly responding to Machado’s proposition to share her prize with Donald Trump, the Norwegian Nobel Committee Institution stated that “once a Nobel Prize is announced, the prize cannot be shared, revoked, or transferred to others.” This long-standing rule was put in place by the Nobel Committee specifically for situations like this.
Public opinion regarding the Trump’s receiving of the Nobel Peace Prize through Machado remains sharply divided. To critics, the idea is inane; Trump’s actions and rhetoric undercut the meaning of the prize. Machado should not have allowed a man who has excused political violence, promoted division and dehumanization, and undermined democratic institutions, to receive it. The awarding of the Nobel Prize to Trump has weakened the award’s credibility.