The US president had repeatedly expressed his conviction that he deserved the award for his role in resolving conflicts, most recently after negotiating a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas.
The White House, through its communications director, Steven Cheung, criticized this Friday (10) the decision of the Prize committee to grant recognition to the Venezuelan opposition leader . According to Cheung, the committee “put politics above peace” by passing over the president who expressed in recent days his desire to win the prize.
Trump had repeatedly expressed his conviction that he deserved the Nobel Prize for his role in resolving conflicts, most recently after negotiating a ceasefire agreement between Israel and the Palestinian movement Hamas in Gaza, signed on Thursday. “President Trump will continue to reach peace agreements, end wars, and save lives,” Cheung wrote on the X network. “He has the heart of a humanitarian, and there will never be anyone like him, able to move mountains with the sheer force of his will.”
On the eve of the award announcement, Trump reiterated that the mediation of the ceasefire in Gaza was the eighth war ended since his return to the White House in January. “Whatever they do, it’s fine. I know this: I didn’t do it for that reason, I did it because I saved a lot of lives,” he explained. After the announcement, María Corina Machado dedicated her award to the Venezuelan people and, surprisingly, also to Donald Trump. “We are on the verge of victory and today, more than ever, we count on President Trump (…) Venezuela will be free!”, declared the opponent in her message on the X network.
Machado has broad support from Latino politicians in the United States Congress. In August 2024, Republican congressmen, including then-senator Marco Rubio and current Secretary of State in the Trump cabinet, published an open letter asking for the Nobel Prize for the Venezuelan leader, highlighting her “peaceful resistance against tyrants and her ability to organize and lead a non-violent movement for democracy and human rights”.
*With information from AFP
