María Corina Machado, the exiled Venezuelan Nobel Peace Prize laureate, has made a forceful bid in the past week to return to her country, telling the Trump administration and the Venezuelan people that she wants to help with the recovery from the devastating earthquakes.

But the Trump administration has repeatedly rejected her requests and told the opposition leader that she has become a distraction, turning months of simmering tensions into an open breach with Venezuela’s most popular politician, according to seven people familiar with the discussions.

Some officials now say it is unclear whether Ms. Machado will be able to repair her relationship with the Trump administration.

Ms. Machado, once a lauded protégée of Washington’s Republican establishment, led the opposition group whose candidate handily won the 2024 presidential election, according to independent observers, despite widespread manipulation and voter suppression by the government. The election was stolen by Venezuela’s autocrat, Nicolás Maduro, who was ousted early this year by U.S. forces.

But she faces possible reprisals from Venezuela’s security forces if she returns, and has failed to persuade Mr. Trump that she has the political leverage to govern Venezuela, a country that he has repeatedly described as his second term’s greatest foreign policy success.

Even Ms. Machado’s unprecedented gesture of giving Mr. Trump her Nobel medal as a present — over the prize committee’s opposition — has not been enough to sway him. After living in hiding in Venezuela for fear of arrest, she left last year to receive the Peace Prize, and has not returned.