Nobel winner Machado appears in Oslo after 'journey of extreme danger'

Venezuelan dissident María Corina Machado finally appeared in Oslo in the early hours of Thursday morning, hours after her daughter had accepted her Nobel Peace Prize on her behalf.  

The Nobel Institute said that Machado had undergone “a journey in a situation of extreme danger” to reach the Norwegian capital from her place of hiding in Venezuela.  

The perilous trip involved her taking a boat to Curacao, a Dutch Caribbean island about 40 miles away, a person familiar with the matter said. She was forced to miss the ceremony because bad weather delayed her journey, the person said. 

Breaking a silence that had encouraged days of speculation about her movements, Machado had recorded a voice message as she boarded a plane en route to Norway expressing gratitude “for this immense recognition of our people’s struggle for democracy and freedom.” 

“There are many things we had to go through, and so many people who risked their lives so that I could get to Oslo,” she said in the recording, posted on the Nobel website Wednesday.  

Machado leads the resistance to President Nicolás Maduro’s autocratic rule. Leaving the country carries a risk of not being allowed back in, which might effectively leave her stuck in exile.  

Machado got out of Venezuela on Tuesday with help from members of Maduro’s regime, according to the person, who asked not to be identified discussing private information.  

Her daughter, Ana Corina Sosa Machado, received a standing ovation on Wednesday when she accepted the award on her mother’s behalf.  

Following the seizure of an oil tanker by US forces off the Venezuelan coast on Wednesday, President Donald Trump warned that he “wouldn’t be happy” if the Maduro regime were to arrest Machado upon her return.  

As well as family members, Machado was represented by the leaders of Argentina, Ecuador, Paraguay and Panama.  

Speculation surrounded Machado’s presence from the moment she was announced as this year’s winner back in October. The Nobel Committee had said she was due to attend, but a planned press conference with the laureate in Oslo on Tuesday was postponed and then canceled. She has two press conferences scheduled for Thursday.  

Her movement did little to quell the speculation, perhaps in a bid to confuse the Venezuelan authorities. Panama’s President Jose Raul Mulino posted a comment on social media from Oslo Tuesday saying that he had Machado’s dress for the occasion in his hotel room. 

Machado was awarded the Peace Prize for her “tireless work promoting democratic rights” and “her struggle to achieve a just and peaceful transition from dictatorship to democracy.” 

The Nobel Committee’s decision to recognize Machado has been contentious since she has voiced support for the US military buildup in the Caribbean and President Donald Trump’s threats of force to remove Maduro.  

A small demonstration took place late on Tuesday, prompting Maduro to thank those “who took to the streets by the thousands” to support peace. The organizers of a traditional peace procession to coincide with the Nobel award withdrew this year, saying the choice of Machado wasn’t in line with its values. 

On Wednesday, Vice President Delcy Rodríguez dismissed the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony as a “failure,” saying that Machado did not attend the Oslo event “out of fear” due to reported protests against her. 

In an unusually political speech, Jørgen Watne Frydnes, who chairs the Norwegian Nobel Committee, defended the opposition’s victory in last year’s election, and criticized those who find fault with their means. 

“If you only support people who share your political views, you have understood neither freedom nor democracy,” he said, going on to call on Maduro to “accept the results and leave power.” 

Machado’s international affairs coordinator, Pedro Urruchurtu, acknowledged the controversy, telling a Human Rights Foundation event in Oslo on Tuesday that it was worth allying with Trump to achieve the goal of a transition to the forces of democracy after the long years of struggle since Hugo Chavez came to power in 1999. 

“I am sure this is the best opportunity we have had in 26 years to dismantle this regime,” Urruchurtu said.