Venezuelan opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize laureate María Corina Machado is scheduled to meet with President Donald Trump on Thursday, the White House has confirmed.
The announcement comes just weeks after Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro was captured in Caracas by U.S. forces during a military operation ordered by Trump, a move that has dramatically reshaped the political landscape in Venezuela.
However, Trump has so far declined to back Machado as Venezuela’s leader despite her movement’s claim of victory in the highly contested 2024 elections, opting instead to support Delcy Rodríguez, Maduro’s former vice-president.
Last week, Machado expressed her hope of thanking Trump in person for the action against Maduro and even suggested she would like to give him the Nobel Prize.
Trump described that notion as “a great honour,” though the Nobel Committee later made clear the award cannot be transferred.
Before the meeting was announced, Trump had voiced some reservation about Machado’s role in Venezuela’s future. Asked Friday whether Machado’s Nobel recognition might shift his view, he 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.”
Earlier remarks from Trump underscored his doubts about her domestic support. After Maduro’s removal, he noted, “She doesn’t have the support within, or the respect within, the country. She’s a very nice woman, but she doesn’t have the respect.”
Instead of Machado, Trump has been backing Delcy Rodríguez as Venezuela’s interim president. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt described Rodríguez and her team as “very cooperative with the United States.”
Machado, however, insists that her coalition should be leading Venezuela’s transition. She has sharply criticized Rodríguez, calling her “one of the main architects… of repression for innocent people” and arguing that “everybody in Venezuela and abroad knows perfectly who she is and the role she has played.”
Describing U.S. military involvement as “a major step towards restoring prosperity and rule of law and democracy in Venezuela,” Machado has celebrated the intervention as pivotal for her country’s future.
Rodríguez has pushed back against Trump’s claim that the U.S. controls Venezuela’s governance, asserting in a televised address: “The Venezuelan government rules our country, and no‑one else does. There is no external agent governing Venezuela.”
