Nobel Peace Prize winner Maria Corina Machado emerges in Oslo after a year in hiding, vowing to return to Venezuela despite being declared a fugitive
OSLO: Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado emerged from nearly a year in hiding to greet supporters in Oslo on Thursday after winning the Nobel Peace Prize.
It remains unclear how she travelled to Norway or how she will return, as Venezuela declared it would consider her a fugitive if she left the country.
“Of course I’m going back,” Machado told the BBC. “I know exactly the risks I’m taking.”
She stated her most useful place for the cause is now Oslo, having previously believed it was Venezuela.
The Nobel Institute said Machado undertook a journey of “extreme danger” to attend the ceremony but arrived too late to collect her prize in person.
Her daughter accepted the award, delivering a rebuke of “state terrorism” under President Nicolas Maduro.
Machado appeared on a balcony of the Grand Hotel, waving to supporters in her first public sighting since January.
The crowd responded by singing and shouting “libertad”, meaning freedom.
She later climbed barriers to hug supporters, many of whom presented her with rosaries.
Machado said she missed her children’s graduations and weddings while in hiding.
“For over 16 months I haven’t been able to hug or touch anyone,” she told the BBC. “Suddenly in the matter of a few hours I’ve been able to see the people I love the most.”
She is scheduled to address a global press conference later on Thursday.
The Nobel Institute awarded her the peace prize for her struggle to achieve a democratic transition.
In her acceptance speech, she urged Venezuelans to keep fighting Maduro’s grip on power.
“What we Venezuelans can offer the world is the lesson forged through this long and difficult journey: that to have democracy, we must be willing to fight for freedom,” her daughter read.
Machado has accused Maduro of stealing the July 2024 election, a claim backed by much of the international community.
The opposition’s claimed election winner, Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia, now lives in exile and was also in Oslo.
Machado last appeared publicly on January 9 in Caracas, protesting Maduro’s inauguration for a third term.
Her decision to travel carries significant personal and political risk.
“She risks being arrested if she returns even if the authorities have shown more restraint with her than with many others,” said University of Oslo professor Benedicte Bull.
Bull noted that staying in exile for a long time could cause her to gradually lose political influence.
Machado’s mother, three daughters, and some Latin American heads of state attended the prize-giving ceremony.
In her speech, she denounced kidnappings and torture under Maduro as “crimes against humanity”.
She has been criticised for aligning herself with US President Donald Trump, to whom she dedicated her Nobel.
The Oslo ceremony coincides with a large US military build-up in the Caribbean in recent weeks.
Maduro insists the goal of the US operations is to topple his government and seize Venezuela’s oil reserves. – AFP
