María Corina Machado, one of the most recognizable faces of Venezuela’s opposition, won the Nobel Peace Prize and said she hasn’t spoken with President Donald Trump since the win.
“Actually, I spoke with President Trump on October 10, the same day the (Noble Peace) Prize was announced, (but) not since then,” Machado said in an interview on the Fox News show Hannity.
Trump has repeatedly suggested he deserved the Nobel Peace Prize, and Machado previously dedicated her 2025 Nobel in part to Trump, who acknowledged the honor. Now she is publicly describing a relationship that has gone quiet since the day the award was announced.
Machado’s comments were her first since the U.S. launched strikes in Venezuela over the weekend and captured President Nicolás Maduro, a shocking intervention that has left the country’s political future uncertain and left many wondering who will run the South American nation.
On Fox News, Machado embraced the U.S. action in sweeping moral terms. She called it “a huge step for humanity, for freedom and human dignity.” She also said she wants to return to Venezuela soon after leaving last month to travel to Norway to accept the Nobel and has not gone back since. “I’m planning to go as soon as possible back home,” she said.
The Nobel committee awarded Machado the prize for her fight against what it called a dictatorship under Maduro. Her supporters see her as the most credible civilian alternative to the old order. Her critics argue she is a symbol without the muscle to govern a country that is fractured, economically battered, and still full of armed actors with their own interests.
Trump has made clear which argument he is leaning toward, which surprised many. After Maduro’s capture, he dismissed the idea of collaborating with Machado, saying, “she doesn’t have the support within or the respect within the country.”
Machado thanked Trump for the operation despite his dismissal of her, and she added that it advanced the cause of liberty, while Trump is telling the world she is not the person he trusts to steer Venezuela back to a functioning democracy.
🚨 WOW! Venezuelan opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner Maria Corina Machado DOUBLES DOWN on dedicating her prize to President Trump
“If I believe he deserved it on October, imagine now!”
“As SOON as I learned that we had been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, I… pic.twitter.com/P26WqaRUdD
— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) January 6, 2026
Complicating matters further, Venezuela’s vice president and oil minister, Delcy Rodríguez, was sworn in as interim president on Monday. Trump threatened her in an interview following the invasion, while she fired back publicly and demanded Maduro’s release.
Machado, who has described her fight as one against authoritarianism and corruption, now finds herself navigating a new kind of political problem. Her prize elevated her, but it also created expectations, including expectations that she could be the obvious partner for a U.S. administration that just removed her longtime adversary. Trump’s public statement suggests he doesn’t see her leading the country in the near future.
The next chapter for Venezuela is unclear, and how Machado’s return will impact the fight for power. Trump erased all doubt that it was all about the nation’s vast oil reserves when he gleefully announced that American companies would invest in extracting the liquid gold, ensuring America reaps profits.
While there are signals of a rebellion taking place among Maduro supporters, there is little chance they could take on America’s military might.
