She presents herself because the ethical embodiment of Venezuelan democracy, brandishes a Nobel Prize as a common standard-bearer, and proclaims herself the longer term president of a rustic nonetheless beneath geopolitical tutelage. But by putting her religion in Washington, flattering Donald Trump, and turning democratic symbolism into political forex, María Corina Machado lays naked the deep contradictions of an opposition that confuses the wrestle for freedom with the conquest of energy. Behind the rigorously curated democratic façade, the backstage reveals a much more troubling recreation.
Evaluation by Nancy Roc.
A Nobel Peace Prize Laid on the Altar of Politics
The Venezuelan opposition chief shocked worldwide opinion by claiming she had handed her Nobel Peace Prize medal to Donald Trump. She described the gesture as “shifting” and justified it with the supposed gratitude of the Venezuelan individuals towards the previous U.S. president, whom she considers decisive within the nation’s “liberation.” Awarded in late 2025 for her struggle towards the authoritarian regime of Nicolás Maduro, María Corina Machado thus selected to “dedicate” her Nobel to a international political determine.
The Nobel Basis reacted firmly, recalling a basic precept:
“As soon as the Nobel Prize has been introduced, it can’t be withdrawn, shared, or transferred to a different particular person. The choice is last and irrevocable.”
Even symbolically, a Nobel Prize is strictly private. The Nobel Middle in Oslo clarified that whereas the medal could bodily change fingers, the title of laureate stays intangible.
In Washington, Donald Trump hailed the act as a “great gesture of mutual respect,” posing with Machado and the medal within the Oval Workplace. The picture shocked far past Scandinavia. It confirmed a democratic opponent handing the common image of peace to a populist chief recurrently accused of undermining democratic norms.
From Democratic Icon to Trumpist Alignment
How did the girl who claims to be the democratic conscience of Venezuela come to raise Donald Trump as a providential determine? The alliance blurs ideological strains. In Norway, the discomfort is palpable.
“It’s utterly completely different to make use of the prize to boost funds for a superb trigger than handy it to essentially the most highly effective man on Earth, somebody who continuously undermines democracy,” says political scientist Benedicte Bull, calling Machado’s political use of her Nobel “very unhappy.”
Criticism has multiplied. “It’s pathetic,” snaps Janne Haaland Matlary. Raymond Johansen calls it an “extremely shameful” act. In only a few days, María Corina Machado shifted from ethical icon to political actor prepared to instrumentalize a common image.
Self-Proclaimed President, Disavowed Ally
Alongside the Nobel episode, Machado has proclaimed herself “future president of Venezuela.” Buoyed by her victory within the opposition primaries in 2024, she claims a well-liked mandate.
“I consider I might be elected president of Venezuela, when the time comes,” she stated on Fox Information.
That certainty collided with post-Maduro realpolitik. On January 3, 2026, Donald Trump stated it will be “very troublesome” for Machado to control the nation, arguing that she lacks ample help and respect inside Venezuela. Washington opted for what it deemed a extra “secure” transition, backing Delcy Rodríguez as interim president with the intention to protect the state equipment and U.S. strategic pursuits.
The Edmundo González Case: An Election Erased
This marginalization takes on sharper aid when recalling that Edmundo González Urrutia, the opposition’s consensus candidate, was elected president within the 2024 vote, earlier than being compelled into exile in Spain beneath stress and threats from the chavista regime.
Initially, María Corina Machado acknowledged this victory and known as for his restoration to energy, asserting that he embodied the democratic legitimacy born of the poll field.
However as Washington redrew the contours of the transition, Edmundo González’s title pale from Machado’s discourse. The elected however blocked president gave approach to a private presidential declare. The query thus arises: did María Corina Machado flip her again on Edmundo González, or did she sacrifice him on the altar of her personal ambitions? By proclaiming herself “future president” whereas not referencing the prevailing electoral mandate, she blurred the very democratic hierarchy she claims to defend.
An Opposition Trapped by Its Contradictions
This shift within the middle of gravity, from an elected president in exile to a private bid for energy, has weakened opposition unity and handed Washington a further argument to impose a transition with out real electoral anchoring. Lengthy a hard-line determine, Machado known as for worldwide intervention, arguing in 2025 that Venezuela was already “invaded” by Russian and Iranian brokers. The 2026 U.S. intervention fulfilled that want, but it surely additionally revealed her strategic isolation.
When Democracy Turns into Inconvenient
Finally, the María Corina Machado case poses an unsettling query: what’s democracy price when it not serves the ambitions of the second? By marginalizing Edmundo González, elected but exiled, the opposition she embodies allowed a harmful logic to take maintain, one by which electoral legitimacy turns into negotiable, reinterpretable, and even expendable.
Venezuela didn’t solely have to be free of an authoritarian regime. It wanted to show that ballots nonetheless matter, even after they yield a politically inconvenient consequence. By conflating worldwide recognition, American endorsement, and actual energy, María Corina Machado dangers remaining not the architect of a democratic transition, however the image of a missed alternative, specifically the possibility to defend democracy to the very finish, even when it didn’t bear her title.
Footnotes
- Statements by María Corina Machado on Fox Information, January 2026.
- Nobel Basis, Statutes of the Nobel Basis, part “Awarding of the Prize.”
- Benedicte Bull, College of Oslo, statements to the Norwegian press, January 2026.
- Janne Haaland Matlary, feedback reported by Norwegian media.
- Raymond Johansen, public assertion, Oslo.
- Fox Information, interview with María Corina Machado, January 2026.
- Assertion by Donald Trump to the press, January 3, 2026.
- Outcomes of the 2024 Venezuelan presidential election; exile of Edmundo González Urrutia in Spain (El País, BBC Mundo, France 24).
- Statements by María Corina Machado supporting Edmundo González, 2024 (Reuters, El País).
- Statements by María Corina Machado supporting Edmundo González, 2024 (Reuters, EPaís).
- Analyses of the post-Maduro transition (The Washington Submit, Monetary Occasions, Le Monde, January 2026).