Spanish
Washington.- Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado stated this Thursday that during the meeting at the White House with the president of the United States, Donald Trump, she "presented" the Nobel Peace Prize medal she won last year, implying that she offered it to him.
"I presented the Nobel Peace Prize medal to the U.S. president," Machado told media outside the Capitol in Washington, without clarifying whether he gave the insignia to Trump or if he kept it.You may be interested in: http://Maria Corina Machado: Trump está totalmente comprometido con libertad de los venezolanos
Machado says that he told the president an episode involving the Marquis de Lafayette, a French military man who enlisted in the ranks of the Army of the thirteen colonies in the war of independence of the United States against the English, and Simón Bolívar, the great hero of Venezuelan independence and other South American countries. Venezuelan politics recounted that "200 years ago" Lafayette gave Bolívar a medal with the face of George Washington, commander of the American independence fighters and later the country's first president. "Bolívar kept that medal for the rest of his life. In fact, when you see his portraits you can see the medal," explained the opposition leader. "Lafayette gave it as a symbol of brotherhood between the people of the U.S. and the people of Venezuela in the fight against tyranny and 200 years later the people of Bolívar are returning a medal to the leader of Washington, in this case the Nobel Peace Prize medal, in recognition of his special commitment to our freedom," Machado added. The activist and politician, who had already dedicated the Nobel to Trump when she received it, stated last week that "she certainly wants to give it to him and share it with him", to which the Norwegian Nobel Institute explained that a Nobel Prize cannot be transferred to third parties. Trump, who has shown interest on numerous occasions in the Nobel Prize, usually insists that he has ended eight international conflicts and that this award should be granted according to the number of wars resolved. "I can't think of anyone in history who deserves the Nobel Prize more than me, and I don't want to brag, but no one else has solved wars," Trump said last week in response to the press. Regarding his meeting with Trump, Machado assured that the Republican, who has chosen to recognize an interim Chavista government to lead Venezuela in favor of one led by opponents, is totally "committed to the freedom of political prisoners in Venezuela and all Venezuelans" after the deposition of Nicolás Maduro at the hands of Washington.
