WASHINGTON, DC — Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado said she has no regrets about presenting her 2025 Nobel Peace Prize medal to U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House in January. She handed over the medal during a meeting at the executive mansion.

The Norwegian Nobel Committee honored Machado for her campaign to restore democratic rights in Venezuela and her struggle to achieve a peaceful transition from authoritarian rule. Before traveling to Oslo in December to collect the prize, she had been living in hiding in Venezuela.

Trump described Machado's presentation of the medal as a wonderful gesture of mutual respect. The Norwegian Nobel Committee made clear after the handover that the prize is nontransferable and cannot be revoked, shared or transferred to others.

Speaking at a conference in Madrid, she said Trump's military operation to remove Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro is something Venezuelans will never forget. "There is a leader in the world, a head of state in the world, who risked the lives of his country's citizens for Venezuela's freedom," she said.

Two weeks before the White House meeting, Trump ordered U.S. special forces to seize Maduro from Caracas. Maduro is currently detained in the U.S. facing drug trafficking charges.

She said she was speaking with the U.S. government and working in coordination with mutual respect and understanding, and that she believed Washington was key to advancing a democratic transition in Venezuela. Trump has long publicly coveted the Nobel Peace Prize.

Trump said Machado is a very nice woman but lacks respect within Venezuela. The Norwegian Nobel Committee's statement that the prize cannot be transferred came after Machado gave Trump the medal at the White House meeting.