Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado hosted a news conference in Washington, D.C., on Friday, a day after she gave her Nobel Peace Prize medal to President Donald Trump.
“I am profoundly convinced that we will have an ordered transition,” said Corina Machado said in a news conference in Spanish in Washington, D.C. on Friday.
She revealed that during the meeting with President Donald Trump, she told him about her wish to go back to Venezuela, “as soon as possible.”
“Of course I insisted on my wish to go back to Venezuela as soon as possible, and I will. Evidently, we also discussed what implications that will bring on,” she added.
Machado said the political transition in her country will lead to “a proud Venezuela that will be turned into the best ally the United States has ever had.”
“We now face a complex and delicate process, and as Venezuelans, we are profoundly grateful for president Trump, his team, his administration and the people of the United States, because a lot of courage was needed to do what he did,” Machado said in the news conference.
She says that her message for the Venezuelan people is that Venezuela will be free, and that will be achieved “with the support of the people of the United States and President Donald Trump.”
Machado, who won the 2025 prize, presented her medal to Trump during a private meeting at the White House on Thursday in appreciation for deposing Venezuela’s repressive leader, Nicolás Maduro, in a U.S. military raid on Jan. 3.
In a post on his social media site, Trump thanked Machado for parting with her prize. He did not say what he intends to do with it.
“It was my Great Honor to meet María Corina Machado, of Venezuela, today,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “She is a wonderful woman who has been through so much. María presented me with her Nobel Peace Prize for the work I have done. Such a wonderful gesture of mutual respect. Thank you María!”
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