Pope Leo XIV Receives Venezuelan María Corina Machado
Pope Leo XIV receives Venezuelan opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize laureate María Corina Machado this past Monday at the Vatican. Trump says he will speak with María Corina Machado on Thursday at the White House about her possible role in Venezuela.
Pope Leo XIV received Venezuelan opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Maria Corina Machado at the Vatican on Monday, the Holy See press office reported. The meeting between the Nobel Peace Prize laureate and the Pope was announced in the bulletin with the Pope’s agenda for the morning, but as usual, no further details were given. Pope Leo XIV, in his address to the diplomatic corps on Friday, called for respect for the will of the Venezuelan people and for the pursuit of peaceful solutions free from “partisan interests.”
The Vatican has closely followed the situation in Venezuela, and The Washington Post reported on January 9 that the pontifical state had tried to negotiate an offer of asylum in Russia for Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro before his capture and detention by US forces. The newspaper reported a conversation between Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin and US Ambassador to the Holy See Brian Burch regarding an alleged Russian proposal to grant asylum to Maduro.
Trump Says he will Speak with María Corina Machado about her Possible Role in Venezuela
US President Donald Trump said he will talk to Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado about her potential role in Venezuela’s future when they meet on Thursday in Washington at the White House. “I’m going to have to talk to her. She might be involved in some aspect. I’ll have to talk to her. I think it’s very kind of her to want to come,” Trump said when questioned by the press about whether his stance on María Corina Machado’s role in the Venezuelan government might change if she were to present him with her Nobel Prize. “I can’t think of anyone in history who deserves the Nobel Prize more than me, and I don’t mean to brag, but no one else has solved wars,” Trump said in response.
Machado, who had already dedicated the Nobel Prize to Trump when she received it, stated this Monday in an interview on the American network ‘Fox News’ 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. “Norway is very embarrassed by what happened. I mean, they are being heavily criticized,” the Republican said. Trump insisted he was “very honored” by the visit of the Venezuelan opposition leader: “We have a young woman who received the Nobel Peace Prize. She’s coming to pay her respects to our country, actually to me,” he said.
These statements contrast slightly with what he himself said when he questioned Machado’s ability to lead Venezuela because “she has no support or respect” in the country. The United States has ruled out the Venezuelan opposition for the time being and has opted for the interim government of Delcy Rodríguez, now the acting Venezuelan president, to lead a transition that will be remotely controlled from Washington.
The president also took the opportunity to criticize former president Barack Obama (2009-2007), who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize at the beginning of his term. “Obama received the Nobel Prize. He had no idea why. He still has no idea. He goes around saying, ‘Why did I receive a Nobel Prize?’ He received it almost immediately after taking office, he did nothing, and he was a bad president,” he criticized. Trump, who often insists that he has ended eight international conflicts, believed that this award should be given according to the number of wars resolved.
