María Corina Machado handed off her Nobel Peace Prize to President Donald Trump at a White House meeting Thursday, despite the Norwegian Nobel Institute saying prizes are not transferable.
The plaque containing the medal, stated the gift was a “presented as a personal symbol of gratitude on behalf of the Venezuelan people in recognition of President Trump’s principled and decisive action to secure a free Venezuela.”
Trump thanked Machado on social media saying receiving her award was “such a wonderful gesture of mutual respect.” Machado first announced she would give the prize to Trump in a Jan. 6 Fox News interview. Two days later, in Trump’s first interview since the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, he said he would accept the prize from Machado. “That would be a great honor,” Trump said, including the misleading claim that he “ended eight wars.”
“A Nobel Prize can neither be revoked, shared, nor transferred to others. Once the announcement has been made, the decision stands for all time,” the Nobel Peace Prize center said in a Jan. 9 statement. The Norwegian Nobel Institute is considered one of Norway’s most effective soft-power tools to leverage international events and foster relationships, but is not an official part of Norway’s government.
Nevertheless, politicians across the country are weighing in. Norway’s Socialist Left Party leader Kirsti Bergstø said, “This is, above all, absurd. The peace prize cannot be given away.”
Bergstø, who is also Norway’s foreign policy spokesperson, said “Trump will no doubt claim that he has now received it, but it cannot be transferred, and Trump’s repeated threats toward Greenland clearly demonstrate why it would have been madness to award him the prize.”
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The Socialist Left Party leader has expressed fears that Trump may also make a move to take over Svalbard, a Norwegian demilitarized archipelago with significant Russian presence, because of his actions toward Greenland, a Danish Kingdom territory.
The concerns over Trump’s claim to Machado’s prize isn’t just a concern of the Norwegian left — Trygve Slagsvold Vedum, the leader of the Centre Party, also criticized the move.
“The fact that Trump accepted the medal says something about him as a type of person: a classic showoff who wants to adorn himself with other people’s honors and work,” Vedum said.
“The award is now so politicized and potentially dangerous that it can easily legitimize an anti-peace prize development,” Raymond Johansen, the former governing mayor of Oslo, said on Facebook.
