To the editor: I read the letter to the editor from a reader blasting María Corina Machado for giving her Nobel Peace Prize to President Trump (“Letters to the Editor: María Corina Machado demeans the Nobel Prize by handing it to Trump,” Jan. 17). I suppose it’s easy to criticize her from a wealthy, safe city like Pasadena. Machado has not had that luxury, having had to stay on the move due to political persecution.
In her fight for her country’s democracy, Machado realized she needed the help of the United States, and to achieve that support, she knew flattery was the only way to gain favor from our egotistical president (ask Russian President Vladimir Putin — he knows that negotiating tactic well).
Machado only had one bargaining tool: her Nobel Prize. Who knows if it was even her idea to offer it — she could’ve been pressured to bring it as the only all-access pass for entry into the White House. “Cringe-worthy”? How about courageous and selfless?
It was her last-ditch effort for Venezuela, which sadly will probably not accomplish much. But I think it’s unfair to criticize someone when you really have no idea of what she has endured trying to save her country.
Kendall Wolf, Encino