Is Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado angling for the top post in her country?
Machado presented her Nobel Peace Prize medal to US President Donald Trump at the White House on Thursday in an unprecedented move.
She equated it with American Revolutionary War fighter the Marquis de Lafayette giving a medal bearing the likeness of George Washington to Simon Bolivar, one of the founding fathers of modern Venezuela, as "a sign of the brotherhood" between the two countries "in their fight for freedom against tyranny."
She added: "And 200 years in history, the people of Bolivar are giving back to the heir of Washington a medal – in this case a medal of the Nobel Peace Prize – as a recognition for his unique commitment with our freedom.”
Trump returned the adulation in a post on Truth Social.
“She is a wonderful woman who has been through so much. María presented me with her Nobel Peace Prize for the work I have done. Such a wonderful gesture of mutual respect. Thank you María!” Trump wrote.
After their closed-door meeting, Machado said: “We can count on President Trump. Thank you, Trump.”
Has Machado thrown her hat in the ring to lead Venezuela with the leadership of the country in uncharted waters after US kidnapping President Nicolás Maduro?
Trump has said it would be difficult for Machado to lead Venezuela because she “doesn't have the support within or the respect within the country.”
Trump has supported new Venezuelan elections “when the time is right” but has not said when he thought that might be.
Till then, Venezuela’s Vice President Delcy Rodriguez has taken over.
Machado, whose party apparently won the elections in 2024 but was denied because of manipulations, believes Rodriguez is also a “narco-trafficker” like her predecessor, Maduro, who was captured by the US in a stunning military operation.
“I'm planning to go back to Venezuela as soon as possible.. We believe that this transition should move forward," Machado told Fox News in an interview on January 6. "We won an election (in 2024) by a landslide under fraudulent conditions. In free and fair elections, we will win over 90 per cent of the votes.”
“Delcy Rodriguez, as you know, is one of the main architects of torture, persecution, corruption, narco-trafficking," Machado said. "She's a main ally and liaison of Russia, China, Iran, certainly not an individual who could be trusted by international investors and she's really rejected by the Venezuelan people."
Machado’s Nobel outreach to Trump can also be seen as another indicator that she has thrown her hat in the ring.
If that is true, Machado has much to learn from erstwhile Nobel Peace Prize laureates Muhammad Yunus and Aung San Suu Kyi.
Bangladesh’s Yunus received the prize in 2006, Myanmar’s Suu Kyi in 1991 and Machado in 2025.
Before Machado, Yunus and Suu Kyi have discovered that international adulation does not translate into stable, democratic governance at home.
Both Yunus and Suu Kyi are now known as leaders whose global reputations are clouded for their inability to control chaos and instability in their home countries.
In Bangladesh, a student uprising dislodged Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina from power in 2024. The trigger was a job quota for families of 1971 war veterans. But it became a protest against Hasina’s long years of heavy handedness against opponents.
The country descended into chaos.
Hasina resigned and left the country on 5 August. Economist Yunus flew in from Paris and took oath on 8 August as head of an interim government, which was supposed to see through the nation till polls.
Since then, rights groups, UN, and various countries have expressed dismay because of the mob violence against minorities, political persecution resulting in deaths, and hate crimes, including killings, sexual assaults, arson, temple and church vandalism.
In a 35-day period in December 2025 to January this year, around 11 Hindus have been reportedly killed in Bangladesh.
Yunus has presided over this chaos, armed only with media releases, condemnations and promises of strong action.
Suu Kyi, once a lodestar of human rights for the west, came to power through landslide majorities in 2015 and 2020. In 2021, she was deposed by a military coup.
In between lies a fateful year. 2017. Suu Kyi’s handling of the Rohingya minority in Myanmar had ripple effects in Bangladesh and India. India’s domestic politics is still reeling from that.
Reports suggest over 400,000 Rohingya fled to neighbouring Bangladesh due to an army crackdown sparked by attacks on police stations in Rakhine state.
Myanmar now faces a lawsuit accusing it of genocide at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), while the International Criminal Court is investigating the country for crimes against humanity.
Suu Kyi, state counsellor, presided over this instability, with accusations from her global supporters that she did nothing to stop rape, murder and a genocide.
Many reports suggested that Suu Kyi had “anti-Muslim” views. One report by Al-Jazeera stated that Suu Kyi in power ran her “party like a dictator” and didn’t listen to people or “accept advice.”
Machado, whose adulation for Trump is no secret, may one day lead Venezuela. Venezuela has no religious fissures but there are uncanny similarities with Bangladesh and Myanmar. Latin American countries have a history of coup, military takeover and revolution, like some countries of Asia.
"The history of Latin America is clear and compelling: intervention has never brought democracy, never generated well-being, nor lasting stability," said Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum.
History has shown that a cocktail of religion, narcotics, crime, socialism and US intervention has mired Latin America into a sordid tragedy and not a tale of magic realism.
Machado surely would know that.
If she is to succeed where her fellow Peace Prize laureates faltered, Machado must avoid the paths taken by Yunus and Suu Kyi and resist becoming captive to the vested interests.