CARACAS: Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado dedicated her Nobel Peace Prize on Friday to the people of Venezuela — and US President Donald Trump, for his "decisive support" for her country's pro-democracy movement.
"I dedicate this prize to the suffering people of Venezuela and to President Trump for his decisive support of our cause!" she wrote on X.
"We are on the threshold of victory and today, more than ever, we count on President Trump, the people of the United States, the peoples of Latin America, and the democratic nations of the world as our principal allies to achieve Freedom and democracy," she added.
Machado has been in hiding in Venezuela for the past year since elections that authoritarian leftist President Nicolas Maduro is accused of stealing.
Machado, who was barred from contesting the election, campaigned instead for her stand-in, ex-diplomat Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia, seen by much of the international community as the rightful winner.
The Nobel Committee cited her "tireless work promoting democratic rights for the people of Venezuela and for her struggle to achieve a just and peaceful transition from dictatorship to democracy."
Machado, 58, has backed Trump's ongoing campaign of military pressure on Maduro, including a major US naval deployment near Venezuela, as a "necessary measure" towards a democratic transition in Venezuela.
White House Press Secretary, Karoline Leavitt, shared Machado's post dedicating her Nobel to Trump on her X account.
Several of Machado's fellow opposition leaders, including two-time former presidential candidate Henrique Capriles, congratulated her on her prize.
"May this recognition be another boost to achieve PEACE and for our Venezuela to leave behind the suffering and recover the freedom and democracy for which it has fought for so many years," Capriles wrote on X.
Trump says he spoke with Machado after White House criticizes Nobel snub
Separately, US President Donald Trump said that Machado called him and said she accepted the prize in his honor, after the White House said earlier in the day that the Nobel Committee had chosen "politics over peace."
The White House had criticized the Nobel Committee's decision to grant the peace prize to the Venezuelan opposition leader instead of Trump, who aggressively lobbied for the award and touted his role in brokering international ceasefire deals.
"President Trump will continue making peace deals, ending wars, and saving lives. He has the heart of a humanitarian, and there will never be anyone like him who can move mountains with the sheer force of his will," White House spokesperson Steven Cheung said in a post on X.
"The Nobel Committee proved they place politics over peace."
Asked about the Nobel on Friday evening, Trump did not directly criticize the Committee's decision, but he credited himself for resolving several wars and said Machado might have given him the award if he asked.
"The person who actually got the Nobel Prize called today, called me, and said, 'I'm accepting this in honor of you, because you really deserved it,'" Trump told reporters in the Oval Office.
"It's a very nice thing to do. I didn't say, 'Then give it to me,' though I think she might have. She was very nice."
