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The organisers of the Nobel peace prize have said it “cannot be revoked, shared or transferred” after Venezuela’s opposition leader, María Corina Machado, said she wanted to give her award to Donald Trump.
When Machado was named Nobel laureate in October, it was seen as a snub by the White House, despite Machado rushing to dedicate the prize to the US president and his “decisive support of our cause”.
Trump has made no secret of his strongly held desire to be awarded the Nobel peace prize, the winner of which is selected by an independent five-person committee in Oslo.
After the US launched airstrikes and a raid in Venezuela that led to the seizure of its leader, Nicolás Maduro, Machado last week told Fox she wanted to “give it to him [Trump] and share it with him” on behalf of the Venezuelan people.
“What he has done is historic. It’s a huge step towards a democratic transition,” she added.
Asked whether he would accept the Nobel peace prize from Machado, Trump, who has said he will meet with Machado in Washington this week, said “that would be a great honour”.
But the Norwegian Nobel Committee and the Norwegian Nobel Institute have since issued a warning indicating that such a transfer of the award would not be possible.
“The facts are clear and well established,” they said in a statement. “Once a Nobel prize is announced, it cannot be revoked, shared or transferred to others. The decision is final and stands for all time.”
Neither Alfred Nobel’s will nor the statutes of the Nobel Foundation make any mention of being able to withdraw the Nobel prize, they said, citing the statutes, which say: “No action may be brought against the decision of the awarding committee in Stockholm or Oslo.”
None of the awarding committees have ever considered withdrawing a Nobel prize, they said, adding: “In principle, the Norwegian Nobel Committee never comments on what peace prize laureates say or do after they have been awarded the prize.”
Machado, who escaped Venezuela in December to secretly travel to Oslo with the intention of attending the Nobel prize ceremony, also spoke in support of Trump’s military invasion of Venezuela and removal of Nicolás Maduro. So far, Trump has held off from backing her to lead the country and has put Washington’s support behind Delcy Rodríguez, Maduro’s deputy.
“A lot of people, most people, said it was impossible to achieve what he has just done on Saturday, 3 January,” Machado told Fox.
