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Venezuelan Opposition leader Maria Corina Machado appeared in public for the first time in 11 months on Thursday after daring to flee her homeland, as she stepped from a hotel balcony in the Norwegian capital and waved to an emotional crowd of new supporters. Nobel award winner
his presence in oslo This came hours after his daughter accepted the Nobel Peace Prize on his behalf. Machado was recognized after mounting the most serious peaceful challenge in years to the authoritarian government of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.
“Freedom! Freedom!” After seeing Machado, the crowd gathered outside the hotel raised slogans. Together they sang the national anthem of Venezuela.
Machado, dressed in jeans and a puffer jacket, spent several minutes outside the hotel, joined by members of his family and several of his close aides. “President! President!” He hugged several people in the crowd amid chants of
As people held up their cellphones to take photos, Machado said, “I want you all to come back to Venezuela.”
hiding in venezuela
Machado had been in hiding since January 9, when she was briefly detained after joining supporters at a protest. CaracasCapital of Venezuela. He was expected to attend the awards ceremony in Oslo on Wednesday, where the head of state and his family were among those waiting to meet him.
Machado said in an audio recording of a phone call published on the Nobel website that she would not be able to arrive in time for the ceremony, but that many people “risked their lives” for her to reach Oslo.
Her daughter, Ana Corina Sosa, accepted the award in her place.
“She wants to live in a free Venezuela and she will never give up this objective,” Sosa said. “That’s why we all know, and I know too, that she will be back in Venezuela very soon.”
Norwegian Nobel Committee Chairman Jørgen Watne Friednes said at the award ceremony that “Maria Corina Machado has done everything in her power to be able to attend the ceremony here today – a journey in conditions of extreme danger.”
Machado said in an audio recording of a phone call published on the Nobel website that she would not be able to arrive in time for the ceremony, but that many people “risked their lives” for her to reach Oslo.
“I am very grateful to them, and this is a measure of what this recognition means to the Venezuelan people,” she said before indicating that she was about to board a plane.
Flight tracking data shows the plane she arrived on had flown from Bangor, Maine, to Oslo.
Machado said that “Since this is a prize for all Venezuelans, I believe that they will get it. And as soon as I arrive, I will be able to embrace all my family and my children, whom I have not seen for two years and so many Venezuelans, Norwegians that I know, they share our struggle and our fight.”
show of solidarity
Prominent Latin American figures attended the rally on Wednesday in a sign of solidarity with Machado, including Argentina’s President Javier Meili, Ecuador’s President Daniel Noboa, Panama’s President Jose Raul Mulino and Paraguay’s President Santiago Pena.
Machado, 58, was declared victorious on October 10 in his struggle to achieve democratic change in his South American nation. Watney Friedness said that “Venezuela has devolved into a brutal authoritarian state,” and he described Machado as “one of the most extraordinary examples of civic courage in recent Latin American history.”
Machado won the opposition primary election and intended to challenge Maduro in last year’s presidential election, but the government barred him from running for office. Retired diplomat Edmundo Gonzalez replaced him.
The election, scheduled for July 28, 2024, saw widespread repression ahead of the elections, including disqualification, arrests, and human rights violations. The surge comes after the country’s National Electoral Council, which is packed with Maduro loyalists, declared the incumbent the winner.
Gonzalez, who sought asylum in Spain last year after a Venezuelan court issued a warrant for his arrest, attended Wednesday’s ceremony.
UN human rights officials and several independent rights groups have expressed concern about the situation in Venezuela, and called for Maduro to be held accountable for his crackdown on dissent.
‘fight for freedom’
Sosa delivered a speech written by his mother on the occasion, saying, “More than anything, we Venezuelans can give to the world the lesson we have had through this long and difficult journey – that for democracy, we must be willing to fight for freedom.”
The speech did not mention current tensions between Washington and Caracas, as US President Donald Trump continues a military campaign in the Caribbean that has killed Venezuelans in international waters and threatened to attack Venezuela. Machado has consistently supported Trump’s strategy toward Venezuela.
Among the many “heroes of this journey” honored at the lecture, Sosa mentioned “leaders around the world who joined with us and defended our cause,” but did not elaborate.
Watene Friedness said of authoritarian leaders like Maduro that “Your power is not permanent. Your violence will not prevail over those who rise up and protest.”
“Mr. Maduro, accept the election results and step down,” he said.
Previous winners unable to participate
According to the prize’s official website, five previous Nobel Peace Prize laureates were detained or jailed at the time of the award, most recently Iranian activist Nargess Mohammadi in 2023 and Belarusian human rights lawyer Ales Bieliatsky in 2022.
The others were China’s Liu Xiaobo in 2010, Myanmar’s Aung San Suu Kyi in 1991, and Germany’s Carl von Ossietzky in 1935.
Venezuelan human rights activist Gustavo Tovar-Arroyo, who was forced to flee into exile in 2012, said that Machado’s supporters “did the best we could to make sure she stayed here, which she deserved. But we knew the risks.”
She said she was “disappointed that she couldn’t attend the ceremony, but it’s part of what happens when we fight against dictatorship, tyranny or criminal rule. So we’re used to it.”
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García Cano reported from Caracas, Venezuela. Associated Press writers Geir Moulson in Berlin and Jamie Keaton in Geneva contributed to this report.