Venezuela's opposition leader Machado presents Trump with her Nobel Prize at White House meeting

US President Donald Trump met Thursday with Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, whose pro-democracy movement he has sidelined since toppling her country's leader, and whose Nobel Peace Prize he has openly envied.

Machado said she "presented" her Nobel Peace Prize medal to Donald Trump, in a bid to win over the US president who had sidelined her since overthrowing Nicolas Maduro.

Her "wonderful gesture of mutual respect," as Trump called it Thursday, comes after the Republican said the award should have gone to him instead -- and after he refused to back Machado following the January 3 US military operation to capture Maduro.

"He deserves it, and it was a very emotional moment," Machado later told broadcaster Fox News in an interview.

She drew a comparison to the Marquis de Lafayette, the French officer who helped the United States in the Revolutionary War against Britain, saying he handed a medal with the image of first US president George Washington to Simon Bolivar, the Venezuelan who led a wave of successful independence fights against Spain.

"Two hundred years in history, the people of Bolivar are giving back to the heir of Washington a medal -- in this case, the medal of the Nobel Peace Prize as a recognition for his unique commitment with our freedom," she said.

A White House official confirmed that Trump intends to keep the medal.

In a social media post on Thursday evening, Trump wrote: "Maria presented me with her Nobel Peace Prize ​for the work I have done. Such a wonderful gesture of mutual respect. Thank you Maria!"

Machado's White House visit came a day after Trump used glowing terms to describe his first known call with Venezuela's interim president Delcy Rodriguez, confirming his satisfaction with the allies of Nicolas Maduro remaining in power – for now, at least.

Trump called Rodriguez a "terrific person" and hailed "terrific progress" made since US special forces seized Maduro and his wife in a deadly raid on January 3.

Rodriguez said the call was "productive and courteous", and characterised by "mutual respect".

"Many topics were discussed," Trump said on social media, "including Oil, Minerals, Trade and, of course, National Security".

Notably absent was any mention of a political transition, an issue that Washington has recently downplayed compared to economic concerns, especially access to Venezuelan oil.

Machado has campaigned for years to end Maduro's rule.

Read moreNobel Peace Prize winner Machado vows 'Venezuela will be free'

Nobel sharing?

Machado, 58, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize last year for her activism in pursuit of democracy in Venezuela, despite threats of imprisonment by Maduro's government.

Venezuela's opposition has argued and presented evidence that Maduro stole the 2024 election from Machado's party, namely candidate Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia – claims supported by Washington.

Venezuela's electoral authorities, seen as allied with Maduro, never released data from the vote.

Hundreds of people were arrested in post-election protests, and while Gonzalez Urrutia fled to Europe for asylum, Machado remained in the country in a hidden location, appearing only intermittently at rallies.

She appeared in Oslo, Norway last month to collect her Nobel prize after a daring escape by boat, and has not yet returned to her home country.

Trump has openly fumed about not being awarded the prize, calling it a "major embarrassment" for Norway.

Machado has offered to share her award with Trump, and the president indicated she might give it to him when they meet.

"I understand she wants to do that. That would be a great honour," Trump said in a recent Fox News interview.

The Nobel Institute has stressed that the prize cannot be transferred from one person to another.

Prisoner releases

Under pressure from Washington, Venezuela has released dozens of political prisoners in the past week, though hundreds remain behind bars.

Rodriguez claimed a total of 406 political prisoners had been released since December in a process that "has not yet concluded".

The Foro Penal legal rights NGO, which defends many of the detainees, gave a much smaller tally of around 180 freed.

To display this content from YouTube, you must enable advertisement tracking and audience measurement.

Accept Manage my choices

One of your browser extensions seems to be blocking the video player from loading. To watch this content, you may need to disable it on this site.

Try again

AFP's count, based on data from NGOs and opposition parties, showed 70 people released since the fall of Maduro, who has been taken to the United States to face trial for alleged drug trafficking.

To avoid scenes of jubilant opposition activists punching the air as they walk free from prison, the authorities have been releasing them quietly at other locations, far from the TV cameras and relatives waiting outside detention centers.

The United States on Wednesday seized another tanker in the Caribbean in its campaign to control oil leaving Venezuela.

Marines and sailors apprehended the Tanker Veronica without incident in a pre-dawn raid, the US military command said on social media, with a video showing soldiers rappelling onto a vessel's deck.

"The only oil leaving Venezuela will be oil that is coordinated properly and lawfully," it said. The tanker is the sixth seized in recent weeks.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP and Reuters)