Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado met for the first time with US President Donald Trump this Thursday. She attempted to gain his favor by offering him the Nobel Peace Prize medal she received last year, after the Republican sidelined her from Venezuela's political transition process.
Despite the meeting with Machado, the White House gave no signs on Thursday of a change in its policy towards Venezuela, which for now remains based on cooperation with the government of Rodríguez, whom Trump considers to be under Washington's tutelage and with whose administration it has closed oil agreements.
Machado addressed this issue with Trump and left the meeting convinced that the US leader is "committed to the freedom of Venezuela's political prisoners and all Venezuelians".
"I 'presented' the medal to the president," Machado told the press after meeting with Trump at the White House and holding meetings with Republican and Democratic senators in Congress. She implied that she had offered it to him, a gesture on which the White House has not commented or given priority.
In an attempt to bridge the gap with the Republican, Machado had last week announced her intention to 'share' the Nobel Peace Prize with Trump, an award the US president desires, arguing that he has contributed to resolving several wars.
So far, Trump and his administration have chosen to back the government of the acting president, Delcy Rodríguez, who was vice president during Maduro's term, because they claim she has yielded to their demands.
"Two hundred years later, the people of Bolívar are returning to the leader of Washington a medal, in this case the Nobel Peace Prize medal, as recognition of his special commitment to our freedom," Machado explained.
Trump himself had a phone call on Wednesday with the acting president to discuss oil issues and described her as a "fantastic person".
At a press conference, Trump's spokeswoman, Karoline Leavitt, described Machado as a "brave voice" for many Venezuelans but added that Washington still considers the opposition leader does not have enough support to lead a transition.
"The president is satisfied with what he sees and hopes this cooperation will continue," the spokeswoman stated.
The opposition leader appealed to history by recounting that Simón Bolívar, hero of Venezuela's independence and other regional countries, kept throughout his life a medal with the face of George Washington, the first president of the United States, which was gifted to him by the Marquis de Lafayette.
On this same Thursday, before the meeting between Trump and Machado, the Nobel Peace Center emphasized on social networks that the award "cannot be revoked, shared or transferred to others," and clarified that "a medal can change hands, but the title of Nobel Peace Prize laureate cannot."
The meeting, which consisted of a private lunch at the White House of which no images emerged and lasted over two hours, took place twelve days after US forces deposed Nicolás Maduro in an attack in Venezuela that resulted in the capture and transfer of the Chavista leader and his wife, Cilia Flores, to New York, where both face drug trafficking charges.
At the same time, Leavitt assured that the Rodríguez government is being "extremely cooperative" given that it has so far "complied with all the demands and requests of the United States."
Since Maduro's fall, more than 400 political prisoners have been released in the country, according to Venezuelan government data.
The Nobel medal, minted in gold and less than seven centimeters in diameter, bears a portrait of Alfred Nobel, a design that has remained practically unchanged for over 120 years.
