After spending more than a year mostly in hiding and defying a decade-long travel ban, Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado arrived in Norway on Thursday, hours after the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony, Reuters reported.
The head of the Norwegian Nobel Committee confirmed that Machado had arrived.
Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado’s decision to come out of hiding and leave the country has electrified her movement, but carries political risks, according to the New York Times.
Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado has won the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize in Norway for promoting democratic rights in her country and her struggle to achieve a transition to democracy, the Norwegian Nobel Committee said.
Ana Corina Sosa, daughter of María Corina Machado, accepted the Nobel Peace Prize on behalf of her mother.
In an exclusive phone call, Maria Corina Machado told the Nobel Peace Prize Committee: “Once I arrive, I will be able to hug my whole family and my children, whom I have not seen for two years, and so many Venezuelan-Norwegians who I know share our struggle.
She said this just before she was about to board a plane to Oslo, Norway.
Machado hopes to participate in various activities in the coming days, but unfortunately he will not be attending the peace awards ceremony. She will be represented at the awards ceremony by her daughter Maria Corina Machado – stay tuned for the awards ceremony that will begin shortly.
Machado, 58, has been barred from leaving Venezuela by the government of President Nicolás Maduro since 2014, and her daughter gave a thank-you speech in her absence on Wednesday.
The Norwegian Nobel Committee awarded the prize to Machado for her fight against what it called a dictatorship.
Who is Nobel Peace Prize winner Maria Corina Machado?
Maria Corina Machado (58) was born in Caracas, Venezuela on October 7, 1967. She graduated as an industrial engineer and her father was a prominent businessman in the Venezuelan steel industry. Her upper-class roots have made her a target of criticism from Venezuela’s ruling Socialist Party, Reuters wrote.
When did she hide?
Machado won the opposition primary in a landslide in 2023 and her rally drew large crowds, but her ban on holding public office prevented her from running for president against Nicolás Maduro in the 2024 election, and she went into hiding.
The electoral authority and the country’s highest court say Maduro, whose time in office has been marked by a deep economic and social crisis, won the election, although they have never released detailed results.
Machado emerged from hiding to make a brief appearance during a protest before Maduro’s inauguration in January. She was briefly arrested and then released.
(With input from agencies)
