Maria Corina Machado handed her peace prize to Donald Trump (Picture: White House)

Venezuelan opposition leader,Maria Corina Machado,handed her peace prize to Donald Trump,sparking a pointed reaction from the Nobel committee.

Trump posed beaming next to Machado in the Oval Office,holding the medal encased in a glitzy golden frame.

Machado,Venezuela’s main opposition leader,who lives in exile in the US,received the iconic Nobel Peace Prize in October for her ongoing struggle to help rescue her country from its future as ‘a brutal,authoritarian state.’

She said it was ‘a historic day for us Venezuelans’ after meeting Trump for the first time yesterday and handing over her prize in the White House.

Trump had signalled he was unhappy when Machado was awarded the honour last year,and he has made it clear he wishes to win it someday.

All eyes have been on Venezuela since US special forces seized Venezuela’s president Nicolas Maduro and his wife on January 3.

Within days,Trump’s administration was ready to move in to take control of the country’s vast oil reserves. The US military has stopped oil tankers suspected of transporting sanctioned Venezuelan oil.