Presentation of the Nobel Peace Medal | Trump hails Machado’s “magnificent gesture”

(Washington) Donald Trump welcomed Thursday the “magnificent gesture” of Venezuelan opponent María Corina Machado, who presented him with her Nobel Peace Prize medal during their meeting at the White House.

“Maria presented me with her Nobel Peace Prize for the work I did. What a magnificent gesture of mutual respect. Thank you Maria! », Wrote the American president on his Truth Social platform, who openly covets this distinction.

Earlier in the day, the Venezuelan opponent announced that she had “offered” her Nobel Prize medal to Donald Trump, who is keeping it out of his strategy for Venezuela.

The Nobel Peace Center, a museum located in Oslo, opportunely emphasized on X Thursday that the laureates could dispose of the golden medal associated with the distinction as they wished.

But he added: “A medal can change hands, but not the title of a winner.”

The lunch between Donald Trump and María Corina Machado, presented on the American side as a courtesy meeting more than anything else, took place without press access.

Shortly after the capture of Nicolás Maduro, now detained in the United States, the American president estimated that M^me Machado, who left Venezuela clandestinely in December to receive the Nobel, was not qualified to lead the country.

“We need democracy”

She arrived at the White House shortly after 12 p.m. EST and left around 2:30 p.m.

“I assured him that Venezuelans wanted to live free, with dignity, in justice,” said the opponent. “For this, we need democracy,” she added.

Donald Trump has for the moment ruled out the organization of elections and prefers to “dictate” until further notice the decisions of the leadership team remaining in place in Caracas after the capture of the deposed president by American special forces.

María Corina Machado “is truly a remarkable and courageous voice for many Venezuelans,” White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt commented while the meeting was still underway.

The American president had a “long conversation” on Wednesday with the interim president of the Latin American country, Delcy Rodríguez.

He had nothing but praise for the former vice-president of the fallen leader, a “terrific person”, according to him.

Delcy Rodríguez spoke on Thursday of a “partial reform” of the law on oil, the country’s main resource whose extraction and marketing Washington intends to control.

Oil sales

American forces also seized a new oil tanker under sanctions in the Caribbean on Thursday morning, the sixth in a few weeks.

The United States also finalized a sale of Venezuelan oil, the first since taking control of the sector, for an amount of $500 million.

To achieve his goals, Donald Trump will also have to convince oil multinationals, some of whom are cautious, even frankly reluctant, to invest massively in Venezuela’s poor infrastructure.

The country has the largest reserves in the world with 303,221 million barrels, according to the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), ahead of Saudi Arabia (267,200 million) and Iran.

However, years of mismanagement and corruption have caused production to fall from a peak of more than 3 million barrels/day (bpd) to an all-time low of just over 350,000 bpd in 2020. The government has made efforts to turn the tide and reach 930,000 bpd in 2025, according to OPEC. Production is currently around 1.2 million bpd, according to the authorities.