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WASHINGTON — Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado said Friday she’s confident of her country’s eventual transition to democracy after the U.S. military ousted former President Nicolás Maduro.

But when pressed, she took pains to avoid giving any details on her plans to return home or any timetable for elections in Venezuela.

Her remarks reflect how President Trump’s endorsement of a Maduro loyalist to lead Venezuela for now has frozen out the nation’s Nobel Peace Prize-winning crusader for democracy. Still, Machado has looked to get closer to Trump, presenting her Nobel medal to him a day earlier at the White House.

As Machado was meeting with Trump, CIA Director John Ratcliffe traveled to Venezuela to meet with acting President Delcy Rodríguez, further confirmation that Maduro’s longtime second in command was the woman the White House preferred to see managing Venezuela for now.

Speaking to reporters at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank in Washington, Machado said she was “profoundly, profoundly confident that we will have an orderly transition” to democracy that would also transform Venezuela’s self-proclaimed socialist government long hostile to the U.S. into a strong U.S. ally.

She rejected the notion that Trump chose to work with Rodríguez, Maduro’s former vice president, over her opposition movement, whose candidate was widely believed to have won the 2024 presidential election.

“This has nothing to do with a tension or decision between Delcy Rodríguez and myself,” she said. But she stopped short of elaborating, instead pivoting to vague assertions about her movement’s popular mandate and the government’s dismal human rights record.

In apparent deference to Trump, she provided almost no details Friday about what they discussed or even what she thought the U.S. should do in Venezuela.

“I think I don’t need to urge the president on specific things,” she said.

Machado traveled to Washington looking to rekindle the support for democracy in Venezuela that Trump showed during his first administration. She presented him with the prize she won last year, praising him for what she said was his commitment to Venezuela’s freedom. The Nobel Institute has been clear, however, that the prize cannot be shared or transferred.

Trump, who has actively campaigned to be awarded the prize, said Machado left the medal for him to keep. “And by the way, I think she’s a very fine woman,” he said. “And we’ll be talking again.”

But her efforts have so far done little to alter the Trump administration’s perception that Rodríguez is best prepared to stabilize the South American nation.

Trump has pressed ahead with plans for American oil companies to revive Venezuela’s crumbling energy infrastructure and is exploring the possibility of reopening the U.S. Embassy in Caracas, which he closed during his first administration.

Trump has said it would be difficult for Machado to lead because she “doesn’t have the support within or the respect within the country.”

Machado crisscrossed Venezuela ahead of the 2024 presidential elections, rallying millions of voters looking to end 25 years of single party rule. When she was barred from the race, a previously unknown former diplomat, Edmundo Gonzalez, replaced her on the ballot. But election officials loyal to the ruling party declared Maduro the winner despite ample credible evidence to the contrary.

Machado, revered by millions in Venezuela, went into hiding but vowed to continue fighting until democracy was restored. She reemerged months later to pick up her Nobel Peace Prize in Norway, the first time in more than a decade that she had left Venezuela.

Goodman and Debre write for the Associated Press. Debre reported from Buenos Aires, Argentina. AP writer Meg Kinnard contributed to this report.

Jan. 16 (UPI) — Nobel Peace Prize recipient Maria Corina Machado is the only recognized recipient of the award despite the Venezuelan leader giving her medal to President Donald Trump this week, the Nobel Committee said Friday.

Nobel Prize-winning laureates receive a gold medal and a diploma affirming their status, and nothing changes it, the Norwegian Nobel Committee said in a news release on Friday.

“Regardless of what may happen to the medal, the diploma or the prize money, it is and remains the original laureate who is recorded in history as the recipient of the prize,” the committee said.

“Even if the medal or diploma later comes into someone else’s possession, this does not alter who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.”

The White House posted a photo on social media showing the president accepting the medal from Machado, which is framed and contains documentation marking the moment.

The committee said a laureate “cannot share the prize with others nor transfer it once it has been announced.”

The prize is irrevocable, and the “decision is final and applies for all time,” the committee added.

While the prize cannot be transferred, there are no rules on what recipients can do with the prize, certificate or prize money.

They can keep them, give them away, sell them or donate them to others if they wish to do so.

Machado on Friday told an interviewer for Fox and Friends that Trump “deserves it” and said it was a very emotional moment when she gave him the medal, NBC News reported.

“I decided to present the Nobel Peace Prize medal on behalf of the people of Venezuela,” Machado said.

Machado earlier praised Trump for ordering the U.S. military to capture Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife and bring them to the United States to face federal charges for alleged drug trafficking and related offenses.

Jan. 15 (UPI) — President Donald Trump on Thursday greeted Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado at the White House where she presented him with her Nobel Peace Prize medal, which he accepted.

Machado, leader of the Venezuela’s center-right Vente Venezuela party, was awarded the medal, which Trump heavily campaigned for, last year for her work to promote democratic rights in her South American nation.

“It was a Great Honor to meet Maria Corina Machado, of Venezuela, today,” Trump said on his Truth Social platform. “She is a wonderful woman who has been through so much. Maria presented me with her Nobel Peace Prize for the work I have done. Such a wonderful gesture of mutual respect.”

In presenting the medal to Trump, she said it is a symbol of the unity of their two peoples on the ideals of freedom, sovereignty and democratic dignity.

“It is also a profound expression of gratitude for the invaluable support of President Trump and the United States for the Venezuelan people in this decisive struggle for our independence and the restoration of popular sovereignty,” she said, according to a statement from her Vente Venezuela party.

The American president has long sought to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Machado first publicly offered to give her medal to Trump earlier this month for the U.S. military operation that resulted in the seizure of Venezuela’s authoritarian president, Nicolas Maduro.

The Norwegian Nobel Committee and the Norwegian Nobel Institute responded to the situation with a statement that “Once a Nobel Prize is announced, it cannot be revoked, shared or transferred to others. The decision is final and stands for all time” — a statement it reiterated on Thursday.

“A medal can change owners, but the title of a Nobel Peace Prize laureate cannot,” it said.

During her visit to Washington, Machado also visited with Republican and Democrat lawmakers at the Capitol.

“I want to assure you that we are going to turn Venezuela into a free and safe country, and into the strongest ally the United States has ever had in this region — when Venezuela is free,” she said.

Ahead of Venezuela’s 2024 election, Machado won her primary bid to oppose Maduro, but was banned from running. Candidate Edmundo Gonzalez was widely seen as having won the election, but the state-run election agency named Maduro the winner.

Machado then left the country.

Despite the removal of Maduro, Maduro’s government remains in power, with Delcy Rodriguez, former vice president of Venezuela, serving as the country’s interim leader.

“If one day, as acting president, I have to go to Washington, I will do so with my head held high, not on my knees,” Rodriguez told lawmakers Thursday in a jab at Machado.

WASHINGTON — Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado said Thursday that she “presented” her Nobel Peace Prize medal to President Trump during a private meeting at the White House, but he has not changed his view that she does not have the support to lead her country.

Machado, who won the prize last year for her work to promote democracy in Venezuela, said she presented the 18-carat gold medal to Trump as a “recognition of his unique commitment to our freedom.” It is unclear whether the president, who has been fixated on getting the prize in recent year, accepted it. The Nobel Peace Center has maintained the award cannot be transferred.

The gesture was made on the day the two leaders met for the first time at the White House. The highly anticipated get-together came as the United States has allowed top deputies of deposed president Nicolás Maduro’s regime to remain in charge as Trump oversees the transition of power.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters that Trump went into the meeting without any expectations, other than to have a “frank and positive discussion about what’s taking place in Venezuela.”

Leavitt added that Trump continues to assert that Machado does not have the “support” or “respect” to lead Venezuela, an assessment he first made on the day of Maduro’s capture to the surprise of many Venezuelans.

“At this moment in time, his opinion on that matter has not changed,” Leavitt said at a news briefing.

While Leavitt described Machado as a “remarkable and brave voice for many of the people in Venezuela,” she also said the United States had found an “extremely cooperative” partner in Maduro’s handpicked vice president, Delcy Rodríguez, who is serving as acting president of Venezuela.

“They have met all of the demands and requests of the United States and the president,” Leavitt said, noting that the Venezuelan government already agreed to release political prisoners and reached a $100-billion deal to rebuild Venezuela’s energy sector.

As Machado left the White House, the scope of the discussions between her and the president remained unclear. She did not take questions from the reporters, but a few of them were able to capture a moment on video when she was greeted by supporters outside the White House. She told them: “Know that we can count on President Trump for Venezuela’s freedom.”

She then left to meet with a bipartisan group of U.S. senators on Capitol Hill. It was after this meeting that Machado told reporters she had presented the medal to the president.

Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) was one of 14 senators who met with Machado. After the meeting Scott said Machado was “very appreciative of the U.S. military” capturing Maduro and was pushing for “free and fair elections and free press.”

“We have got to continue to understand that Delcy Rodriguez is not the leader, she was never elected as a president, she is still the leader of drug cartels,” Scott said. “We need to make sure we hold her accountable.”

It appears unlikely that much will change for Machado after meeting with Trump, who largely has sidelined her and Edmundo González Urrutia, the opposition candidate who won the 2024 presidential election that was stolen by Maduro.

Days after Maduro was captured, Machado told CBS News the people of Venezuela had “already chosen” González Urrutia as the rightful leader of the country and that they were “ready and willing to serve our people, as we have been mandated.”

Trump, however, has maintained that before elections can take place in Venezuela, the United States needs to “fix” the country.

Asked if the president was committed to holding elections in Venezuela, Leavitt said Trump hopes to see “elections in Venezuela one day” but did not have a timeline for them yet.

Trump says he is happy with his administration’s working relationship with Rodríguez. At a White House event Wednesday, Trump called Rodríguez a “terrific person.”

The praise came after Trump said he had a “very good call” with her that morning that left him feeling hopeful that the United States and Venezuela could have a “spectacular” working relationship.

Rodriguez, in turn, used her first state of the union address Thursday to promote oil industry reforms that would drawn in foreign investment, which is in line with the Trump administration’s goals. She also criticized the Washington officials and said there was a “stain on our relations” but said she was open to strengthening the relationship.

“Let us not be afraid of diplomacy,” with the U.S., Rodriguez said in Venezuela.

On December 10^th, far away from Caracas, the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony was held at the Oslo City Hall, a great moment of global moral clarity, as it is seen around the world. Among all, the Nobel Peace Prize is the most political in nature, and probably the most misunderstood. Handing it to María Corina Machado was not without controversy. Some argued that peace has yet to be achieved, others maintained that the struggle for democracy in Venezuela continues, and a few went so far as to claim that Machado was calling for war and escalating the conflict.

Despite that criticism, the Nobel Peace Prize recognizes Machado’s struggle to keep alive the flame of democracy under a dire authoritarian context. It certainly arrived at the most dangerous moment of this political process. But this begs the question: what does the prize being awarded to Machado tell us about the Venezuelan struggle for democracy—and what is dangerously obscure about that? 

To begin elucidating this question, it is important to keep in mind that the Norwegian Nobel Committee recognizes struggles, not outcomes, and its decision to honor Machado is less about Venezuela’s democratic future and more about explaining why the international community chose to intervene, symbolically and morally, in this particular moment in history.

The state of democracy at the moment of recognition

It is difficult to establish a relationship between liberal democracy or democratization processes and the Nobel Peace Prize, but a trend emerges in the following figure.

After major conflicts like World War II or the Cold War, leaders from established democracies were often awarded, but there are also periods when laureates come from low-democracy or authoritarian contexts. In this sense, the Nobel Prize functions as a moral intervention when institutions have failed the people, as seen in the second figure.

This trend is evident in the last 15 years of the Nobel Peace Prize, which has been awarded to figures from authoritarian contexts such as Russia, Belarus, Iran, and, most recently, Venezuela in 2025. Seen in this light, Machado’s award fits a more recent Nobel pattern: it is granted not after democratization, but during the struggle, before a political transition has occurred.

We need to take the prize’s symbolism seriously. It is not necessarily about political power but moral authority. The Norwegian Committee increasingly rewards symbolic leadership rather than governing capacity. That is why earlier recipients often came from countries with strong institutions and democratic regimes, in a more celebratory context, whereas more recent laureates represent civil resistance against authoritarian regimes, boosting morale among pro-democracy forces and their ongoing struggle.

In this sense, María Corina Machado’s Nobel Prize validates peaceful protest and nonviolent resistance, rather than placing a bet on a potential presidential candidate.

Power after the prize? Three precedents

More recently, people wonder what the fate of María Corina and the struggle for democracy in Venezuela will be after receiving the Nobel Prize. We can look at three past laurates who also sought to expand human rights and pave the way for a democratic future.

Especially in light of the detention of Narges Mohammadi, the 2023 Nobel Peace Prize laureate in Iran, and the release of Ales Bialiatski, the 2022 laureate in Belarus—the same week Machado received the award—concerns about her safety are heightened.

A Nobel Peace Prize does not bring about transitions, nor does it replace domestic institutions. Instead, it raises the international cost of repression, protects civic mobilization, and fixes moral responsibility on the regime.

From these precedents, three scenarios emerge for Machado’s path:

The first scenario is the “good” case: Nelson Mandela. In 1993, the South African leader was awarded the prize amid a negotiated transition already underway, after being in prison for almost three decades. By forming a wide coalition, Mandela and his party built a strong case for democratization, in conjunction with international pressure. The prize came just one year before winning the presidential elections. In this case, the Nobel came during the path to power.

The second scenario is the “not-so-good” case of Aung San Suu Kyi, from Myanmar. When she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991, it was a time of moral resistance very different from Mandela’s case. She would finally reach power 24 years later, illustrating that political authority does not follow immediately from the award. After the transition from a military junta to a more democratic regime, and after her party won reelection in 2020, her government was toppled by a coup d’etat that sent her back to prison with a 27-year sentence. The new military junta stopped the democratic transition and she was banned from holding office. She has also been criticized for her unwillingness to condemn campaigns against an ethnic minority. This case demonstrates that even with a Nobel Prize and electoral success, democratization is fraught when military dominance and deep ethnic conflicts remain.

And the third scenario is the “bad” case: Guatemala’s Rigoberta Menchú. Menchú received global recognition for her work defending the rights of indigenous communities in Guatemala. It is a “bad” case not because something happened to her—she is still active—but rather that her two presidential campaigns, in 2007 and 2011, were unsuccessful. Menchú’s experience is a good example of the prize’s inability to actually produce palpable outcomes in domestic politics. International recognition does not automatically translate into domestic power.

When things are dire and hope is needed

In Venezuela, liberal democracy is at its lowest, as shown in the second figure. The Nobel Prize Committee awarded the prize because of Machado’s activism in nonviolent resistance, electoral organization, and keeping the flame of democracy alive in an authoritarian regime. The Nobel here amplifies the cause of Venezuelan democracy amongst international elites, but does not resolve the long-standing power imbalance.

A Nobel Peace Prize does not bring about transitions, nor does it replace domestic institutions. Instead, it raises the international cost of repression, protects civic mobilization, and fixes moral responsibility on the regime. It is more of a symbolic intervention. Machado did not receive the Nobel because Venezuela is transitioning to a democracy, not even because that outcome can be guaranteed under the current circumstances. She received it precisely because Venezuela’s democracy is at its lowest, and the cost of dissenting at home carries extreme risks. This has been the trend among laureates over the last 15 years. 

It is also important to caution against messianic expectations. Democratic transitions result from collective action. Any future democratization process and its subsequent consolidation must emphasize society over saviors—a mistake Venezuelans have made in the past and must avoid once and for all.

Nathan Aspinall became the latest seed to fall at the PDC World Championship, but 20-year-old Charlie Manby continued his dream run by reaching the last 16.

Aspinall, who reached the semi-finals in 2019 and 2020, lost 4-3 in a final-set thriller against the Netherlands’ Kevin Doets.

The 15th seed won the first and third sets, but was pegged back on both occasions, only to seize control again with a stunning 170 checkout to claim the fifth set.

However, from there, Doets took over, reeling off sixth consecutive legs to seal a sixth straight win over Aspinall and set up a last-16 tie against world number two Luke Humphries on Tuesday.

Manby, who is playing in the tournament for the first time, overcame Ricky Evans 4-2.

The bricklayer from Huddersfield struggled on his doubles early on, taking out just four of 30 attempts in the first three sets as he went 2-1 down.

Scoring was never an issue though and his accuracy on the checkouts improved, alongside a drop-off from Evans, as he sealed a place in round four and a minimum £60,000 in prize money.

He will face the Netherlands’ Gian van Veen in the next round in what will be his toughest test so far, with the 10th seed having the tournament-high match average of 108.28 in his second-round win.

After the match, Evans posted on Facebook that he had received death threats as well as hate and fat jokes.

Another debutant also progressed with Somerset’s Justin Hood beating Ryan Meikle 4-1.

He raced into a 3-0 lead before Meikle pulled a set back but Hood sealed his place and said afterwards that he would not have to work in 2026 after also confirming at least £60,000 in prize money.

He has climbed to a provisional 63rd in the world rankings already and said post-match he still has aspirations to open a Chinese restaurant one day.

He will face 11th seed Josh Rock in the last 16, after the Northern Irishman overcame Callan Rydz 4-2 in the final third-round tie.

Rydz was emotional throughout following the death of his grandfather since his previous match.