Venezuela's exiled opposition leader María Corina Machado has repeatedly praised President Donald Trump on Monday during her first televised interview since the United States captured Nicolás Maduro. In an interview with Fox News on Monday, Machado offered to share her Nobel Peace Prize with Trump and said she wants to personally thank him for his administration's military intervention in Venezuela on Saturday. She praised Trump for the ouster of Maduro, describing Washington's actions as "a huge step for humanity, for freedom and human dignity". Machado said she had not spoken to the US president since 10 October, the day when she was announced as winner of the Nobel Peace Prize. The 58-year-old was awarded the prize after mounting the most serious peaceful challenge in years to Maduro's government. At the time, Machado partly dedicated the award to Trump, who had long coveted it and said that he had deserved the honour. "I certainly would love to be able to personally tell him that we believe, the Venezuelan people, because this is a prize of the Venezuelan people, certainly want to give it to him, and share it with him," Machado told Fox News host Sean Hannity. Although Trump called Machado in October to congratulate her on winning the Nobel prize, US media reported that he was displeased about the fact that she had accepted the much-coveted award rather than declining it and giving it to him. Machado briefly appeared in public in December to accept the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo. She had been in hiding since 9 January, when she was briefly detained after joining an anti-government protest in Venezuela's capital Caracas. Machado won a resounding victory in the opposition's primary election in 2023 with 93% of the vote, but she was barred from holding public office, preventing her from running against Maduro in 2024. The candidate who replaced her, Edmundo González, is believed to have won by a wide margin according to the polling station tallies. However, Maduro was declared the winner in what was widely regarded as apparent election fraud. Machado's interview with Fox News came days after Trump rejected the idea of working with her. "I think it would be very tough for her to be the leader," Trump said of Machado. "She doesn't have the support or the respect within the country. She's a very nice woman, but she doesn't have the respect." — Agencies
