{"id":197079,"date":"2026-01-16T09:09:47","date_gmt":"2026-01-16T09:09:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/trump-latest-venezuelan-nobel-peace-prize-winner-says-shes-given-her-medal-to-us-president-sky-news\/"},"modified":"2026-01-16T09:09:47","modified_gmt":"2026-01-16T09:09:47","slug":"trump-latest-venezuelan-nobel-peace-prize-winner-says-shes-given-her-medal-to-us-president-sky-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/trump-latest-venezuelan-nobel-peace-prize-winner-says-shes-given-her-medal-to-us-president-sky-news\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump latest: Venezuelan Nobel Peace Prize winner says she's given her medal to US president – Sky News"},"content":{"rendered":"

Venezuela’s opposition leader says she’s given her Nobel Peace Prize medal to Donald Trump at the White House. Earlier, the White House said Trump is still “clear” on his desire to “acquire” Greenland, despite talks and European troops arriving there.
Friday 16 January 2026 00:50, UK
Thanks for following our live updates on a busy day of international diplomacy in the US.
We’re pausing our coverage for now. Before we go, here’s a recap of everything we’ve brought you.
Nobel Peace Prize winner gives medal to Trump<\/b>
Venezuela’s opposition leader Maria Corina Machado told reporters outside the US Capitol that she presented Donald Trump with her Nobel Peace Prize medal during their meeting in the White House.
There had been speculation over whether she would give the medal to the US president during their talks, and she told our US correspondent James Matthews<\/a> it was done “in recognition for his unique commitment [to] our freedom”.
It’s unclear whether Trump has accepted the medal.
As a reminder, Machado won 2025’s Nobel Peace Prize – an honour Trump himself clearly wanted – for her efforts campaigning against Nicolas Maduro’s repressive regime in Venezuela.
US seizes Venezuelan-linked oil tanker<\/b>
Ahead of that meeting, the US seized another oil tanker with links to Venezuela.
US officials told Reuters that the seizure took place in the Caribbean.
The operation was confirmed by the US military’s Southern Command, which said forces apprehended Motor\/Tanker Veronica “without incident” before dawn.
It said the Veronica was “operating in defiance of President Trump’s established quarantine of sanctioned vessels in the Caribbean”.
Watch the moment forces seized the tanker below…
Trump ‘clear’ he wants US to ‘acquire’ Greenland<\/b>
In a White House press briefing, Karoline Leavitt said talks between the foreign ministers of Denmark and Greenland with US vice president JD Vance and secretary of state Marco Rubio were “productive”.
“It was a good meeting, the two sides agreed to establish a working group of individuals who will continue to have technical talks on the acquisition of Greenland,” she said.
“Those talks will take place, I’m told, every two to three weeks.
“This is a conversation the administration intends to keep having with the Danes and with the respective delegation from Greenland. 
“But the president has made his priority quite clear, he wants the United States to acquire Greenland, he thinks it’s best for national security to do that.”
Leavitt added that European countries sending troops to Greenland won’t affect Trump’s decision on acquiring the territory.
Martha Kelner<\/a>, our US correspondent, has been reporting from Minneapolis today.
She found herself caught up in a cloud of tear gas outside a federal government building in the city, which she says is effectively the local offices of the ICE immigration agency.
“Police officers have been trying to establish a bigger perimeter,” Kelner says at one point in the report below, over the sound of sirens.
She then apologises for coughing interrupting her report, saying that the tear gas was “catching in the throats of everyone here”.
As a reminder, tensions have been rising in Minneapolis since a woman was shot dead by ICE agents last week. 
A second person was shot and injured in the leg during an immigration related arrest last night.
Watch Kelner’s report below…
Nobel Peace Prize winner Maria Corina Machado has said she presented her medal to Donald Trump during their White House meeting (see 21.21 post).
The Venezuelan opposition leader was awarded the prize in October, with the committee crediting her with keeping “the flame of democracy burning amidst growing darkness”.
Having hidden in her home country since Nicolas Maduro’s controversial re-election, she travelled to Norway to receive the medal last month.
Machado announced she was running for president in 2023, ahead of the election in July 2024.
She had unified the Vente Venezuela opposition party, winning its primary election by a landslide, and her rallies in the lead-up to the general election began attracting large crowds.
She became popular among the public in the face of ever-expanding authoritarianism under Maduro, who has led the country since 2013.
The country’s courts, heavily influenced by Maduro, blocked Machado from running.
She was subsequently forced into hiding as the president’s government routinely targets its real or perceived opponents, regularly making arrests and violating human rights.
The relatively unknown Edmundo Gonzalez took her place as the opposition’s candidate, but Maduro won a third six-year term in July last year, officially taking 51% of the vote.
But opposition volunteers managed to collect copies of voting tallies from 80% of the 30,000 polling booths nationwide, which showed Gonzalez won by more than two to one.
However, the electoral authority is controlled by those loyal to Maduro, as is Venezuela’s Supreme Court, which ruled that the polling tallies were forged.
By Michael Havis, news reporter<\/b>
A Nobel Peace Prize “can neither be revoked, shared, nor transferred to others”, according to the awarding body.
Donald Trump has long coveted the prize and has been vocal in asserting his own deservedness, claiming to have stopped more than eight wars.
But the Norway-based body behind the award gave it to Mar\u00eda Corina Machado, the leader of the Venezuelan opposition, for standing against the dictator Nicol\u00e1s Maduro.
The decision – which was announced in October – went down badly in the White House, with director of communications Steven Cheung saying “the Nobel Committee proved they place politics over peace”.
However, after accepting the prize in December, Machado was keen to praise the US president, dedicating it to the people of Venezuela and Trump for his “decisive support”.
She subsequently told Fox News she wanted to “give it to him and share it with him”, which Trump said would be “a great honour”
‘Decision stands for all time’<\/b>
But the committee that awards the prize has been unambiguous in shooting down her suggestion.
“A Nobel Prize can neither be revoked, shared, nor transferred to others,” the committee said in a recent statement.
“Once the announcement has been made, the decision stands for all time.”
The statement also said the committee would not comment upon what prize winners say after winning, though “this does not prevent the committee from following the future endeavours of laureates closely”.
What does Trump think of Machado?<\/b>
For his part, the US president has been lukewarm on Machado since losing out on the prize.
After US forces captured Maduro in a raid on Caracas earlier this month, Trump backed Maduro’s vice-president, Delcy Rodr\u00edguez, to succeed him.
Machado, he said, was “not respected” enough to lead the country.
It remains to be seen if Machado’s gesture today will change his view of her.
Our US correspondent James Matthews<\/a> says Maria Corina Machado has tried to leave a lasting impression as she met Donald Trump.
“She said she gave him the Nobel Peace Prize, quite what he’s done with that, we didn’t get the answer to that,” he tells The World with Yalda Hakim<\/a>.
“She’s certainly trying to push all the buttons with the American president, trying to make sure that he’s got the Venezuelan politics in mind beyond access to Venezuelan oil reserves.”
Watch his full analysis…
Moments after Venezuela’s opposition leader says she gave her Nobel Peace Prize medal to Donald Trump, the US president is speaking at the White House.
He’s hosting ice hockey’s Stanley Cup champions, the Florida Panthers.
We’ll let you know if he’s asked about Venezuela or Greenland, and you can watch along in the stream below.
Venezuela’s opposition leader Maria Corina Machado tells reporters outside the US Capitol that she presented Donald Trump with her Nobel Peace Prize medal.
There had been speculation over whether she would give the medal to the US president during their meeting at the White House.
She tells our US correspondent James Matthews<\/a> this was done in “recognition for his unique commitment with our freedom”.
It’s unclear whether Trump has accepted the medal.
As a reminder, Machado won 2025’s Nobel Peace Prize – an honour Trump himself clearly wanted – for her efforts campaigning against Nicolas Maduro’s repressive regime in Venezuela.
Trump’s US snatched Maduro to put him on trial in the US for drug-related offences, in an audacious raid, earlier this month. 
We’re expecting to hear from Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado after her meeting with Donald Trump.
Earlier, she said the talks were “great” and went “very well” (see 19.44 post).
Watch in the live stream below, and we’ll bring you text updates.
After leaving the White House, Maria Corina Machado headed for the crowds gathered outside waving Venezuelan flags.
She has even been pictured hugging some people at the rally.
Previous images showed Venezuelan flags being waved and a group of people were holding a sign saying “welcome” for the opposition leader – see them in our 19.39 post.
A former US ambassador to Venezuela says the real question is whether people in the country are going to be as “delighted” as they are now as the transition sets in.
Speaking to our chief presenter Mark Austin<\/a>, Charles Shapiro says there certainly won’t be any demonstrations in Venezuela against Trump in the near future.
“He’s hugely popular, he and Marco Rubio are hugely popular in Venezuela now,” he says.
“The real issue is, in 30 days when stuff doesn’t work, isn’t recovered as quickly as people hoped it would be… who do they blame? The person in charge.
“The person in charge is Donald Trump, by his own words.”
Watch the full interview…
Be the first to get Breaking News<\/span>
Install the Sky News app for free<\/p>\n

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