Trump Claims Machado Wants to Give him her Nobel Peace Prize
NEW DELHI, Jan 9: The US president Donald Trump has claimed that the Venezuelan Opposition leader Maria Corina Machado has offered to give him her Nobel Peace Prize, an award he had coveted for long.
Mr Trump also indicated that she might give him her award when they meet in Washington next week.
Referring to Ms Machado’s offering, Mr Trump told the media “I understand she wants to do that. That would be a great honour.” However, in Oslo, the Nobel Institute stressed the prize cannot be transferred from one person to another. “A Nobel Prize can neither be revoked nor transferred to others,” Nobel Institute spokesman Erik Aasheim said. “Once the announcement of the laureate(s) has been made, the decision stands for all time,” he said, noting however that the laureate was free to do what they please with the prize money.
On Thursday Mr Trump said it was a “major embarrassment” for Norway that he did not win the prize. While its five members are appointed by the Scandinavian country’s Parliament, the Nobel committee which awards the prize insists its decisions are entirely independent of Norway’s government. “The Norwegian authorities have nothing to do with the Nobel committee’s decisions,” Norway’s state secretary for foreign affairs, Eivind Vad Petersson has said.
Mr Trump said last week that Ms Machado did not have the respect or support within Venezuela to lead the country and has since suggested the U.S. could effectively control Venezuela for years. He told Fox News on Thursday that the South American country, currently led by Mr Maduro’s Vice President, interim leader Delcy Rodriguez, was not in a position to hold fresh elections.
“We have to rebuild the country. They couldn’t have an election,” he said. “They wouldn’t even know how to have an election right now.” The next week’s meeting would be the first between the U.S. president and Ms Machado, who left hiding in Venezuela to accept the award in Oslo last year, and comes just over a week after U.S. forces toppled her rival, Venezuela’s Nicolas Maduro.
(Manas Dasgupta)
