They say in circles close to the White House that Trump’s bad words about María Corina Machado are closely related to the fact that he ‘stole’ the Nobel Peace Prize from her. Knowing the importance that the US president gives to this issue, María Corina Machado has made a gesture that has not gone unnoticed in Norway, the country where the award is granted.
The decision of the Venezuelan opposition leader to give her Nobel Peace medal to Donald Trump has caused a wave of criticism in Norway. Political leaders from different parties describe the gesture as “absurd” and accuse the American president of appropriating other people’s merits.
Machado presented the medal to Trump this Thursday at the White House in recognition of his “unique commitment to our freedom.” Hours later, Trump himself celebrated the gesture on Truth Social, ensuring that the Venezuelan leader had “presented him with her Nobel Peace Prize for the work I have done,” and defined it as a show of “mutual respect.”
From Oslo, the Nobel Peace Center publicly recalled that “a medal can change owners, but the title of Nobel Peace Prize cannot.” Along the same lines, both the Norwegian Nobel Committee and the Nobel Institute had previously warned that the award “cannot be revoked, shared or transferred.”
For Kirsti Bergstø, leader of the Socialist Left Party and Foreign Affairs spokesperson, it is incomprehensible: “This is, above all, absurd. The Peace Prize cannot be given away.” Bergstø adds that Trump’s recent threats about Greenland show why he is not a worthy recipient of the award and warned that “it would be crazy to have awarded him the Nobel Prize.”
Trygve Slagsvold Vedum, leader of the Center Party, has been even harsher, stressing that “whoever has received the award, has received it.” In his opinion, the fact that Trump accepted the medal says a lot about him: “A classic exhibitionist who wants to adorn himself with the honors and work of others.”
Raymond Johansen, former Labor mayor of Oslo and current general secretary of Norwegian People’s Aid, has called the situation “incredibly embarrassing and damaging.” In a message published on Facebook, he warns that Machado’s gesture could seriously harm the prestige of the Nobel Peace Prize and the committee itself, by dangerously politicizing one of the most important awards in the world. “I can’t believe he actually gave the prize to Trump. What is the Nobel committee going to say now?” he asks.
The Norwegian Foreign Ministry has avoided commenting, remembering that the Nobel Prize is independent of the Government.
