Exiled Venezuelan Leader Who Gifted Trump Nobel Prize Will Return Home, Run for President
María Corina Machado, a leading figure in Venezuela’s opposition, says she intends to return from exile and run for president again. She made the announcement in Panama city during meetings with other opposition leaders, adding that the opposition is committed to fair presidential elections where Venezuelans can vote freely.
The article recounts that Machado was targeted by Nicolás Maduro’s government, barred from the 2024 presidential election, and was forced to flee. It also notes that she won the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize for promoting democracy in Venezuela, and that her work included supporting opposition efforts after she was blocked from running officially.
It further describes her Nobel Peace Prize connection abroad, including meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump and presenting him with her Nobel medal as a gesture of recognition.
Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado says she plans to return home and run for president again after her time in exile.
Machado made the announcement Saturday while meeting with fellow opposition leaders in Panama City, according to the Associated Press.
Her comments come months after the collapse of Nicolás Maduro’s regime.
Machado has become one of the best-known anti-socialist voices in Latin America.
She won the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize for her work promoting democracy in Venezuela.
Earlier this year, Machado personally gifted her Nobel medal to President Donald Trump during a White House meeting.
Trump called it a “wonderful gesture.”
U.S. President Donald Trump:
“It was my Great Honor to meet Maria Corina Machado, of Venezuela, today. She is a wonderful woman who has been through so much. Maria presented me with her Nobel Peace Prize for the work I have done. Such a wonderful gesture of mutual respect.… pic.twitter.com/zniaWllPjT
— Open Source Intel (@Osint613) January 16, 2026
“Maria presented me with her Nobel Peace Prize for the work I have done. Such a wonderful gesture of mutual respect,” Trump said in a post from his account.
Machado gave Trump the medal as a sign of appreciation for his role in deposing the dictator on Jan. 3.
For years, Maduro’s government targeted Machado and blocked her from running for office.
She was barred from the 2024 presidential election and later fled.
The Nobel Prize committee noted when presenting her with the award:
In 2023 she announced her candidacy for president in the 2024 presidential election. When she was blocked from running, she supported the opposition’s alternative candidate, Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia. The opposition mobilised widely and collected systematic documentation that it was the true winner of the election. The [Maduro] regime declared victory and tightened its grip on power.
Ms. Machado is receiving the Nobel Peace Prize first and foremost for her efforts to advance democracy in Venezuela…
Now she says she plans to return.
She told reporters the opposition remains committed to “fair presidential elections” where Venezuelans can vote freely.
“I will be a candidate, but there may be others, of course,” she said. “I would love to compete with everyone, with anyone who wants to be a candidate.”
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