Venezuela's opposition leader announces she has presented Trump with the Nobel Peace Prize medal
Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado said Thursday that she “offered” Donald Trump the Nobel Peace Prize medal, although the American president is keeping her away from his strategy for Venezuela, writes AFP.
“I presented the president of the United States with the Nobel Peace Prize medal,” she told reporters at the Capitol, the seat of the US Congress.
Asked if the Republican leader, who openly covets this distinction, kept the medal, the Venezuelan opposition did not answer.
The Nobel Peace Center, the museum located in Oslo, emphasized on Thursday, in a message published on the social network X, that the laureates can dispose of the gold medal associated with the award as they wish.
But the Nobel Peace Center added: “A medal can change the owner, but not the title of laureate.”
The lunch between Donald Trump and Maria Corina Machado, presented by the American side as more of a courtesy meeting, took place without access to the media.
Shortly after the capture of authoritarian leader Nicolas Maduro, now in custody in the United States, the US president deemed Machado, who clandestinely left Venezuela in December to receive the Nobel Prize, unqualified to lead the country.
“Democracy is needed”
She arrived at the White House shortly after 12:00 local time (17:00 GMT) and left around 2:30 p.m.
“I assured them that Venezuelans want to live freely, with dignity, in justice,” said the opposition. “For that, democracy is needed,” she added.
Donald Trump rules out holding elections in Venezuela for the moment and prefers to “dictate” until further notice his decisions to the leadership team left in Caracas after the capture of President Maduro by US special forces.
Maria Corina Machado “is truly an outstanding and courageous voice for many Venezuelans,” White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt commented as the meeting between Trump and the Venezuelan opposition was still underway.
The US president had a “long conversation” with the Latin American country's interim president, Delcy Rodriguez, on Wednesday.
Trump had only words of praise for the former vice president, a “terrific person” in his opinion.
Delcy Rodriguez on Thursday mentioned a “partial reform” of the oil law, the country's main resource, as Washington plans to control the refining and marketing of Venezuelan crude.
The sale of oil
US forces seized a new oil tanker under sanctions in the Caribbean on Thursday morning, the sixth in as many weeks.
The United States also completed a $500 million sale of Venezuelan oil, its first since taking control of the sector.
To achieve his goals, Donald Trump will also have to convince multinational oil companies, some of which are cautious or even reluctant, to invest heavily in Venezuela's ailing infrastructure.
The country has the largest reserves in the world, according to the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), ahead of Saudi Arabia and Iran.
However, years of mismanagement and corruption have seen output fall from a peak of more than 3 million barrels per day (bpd) to an all-time low of around 350,000 bpd in 2020. Authorities have been pushing to turn things around and reach 930,000 bpd in 2025, according to OPEC. Production currently stands at about 1.2 million bpd, according to authorities in Caracas.
