Venezuela's Maria Corina Machado won’t attend ceremony to receive Nobel Peace Prize

Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado is travelling to Oslo but will not be present at Wednesday’s Nobel Peace Prize ceremony, organisers confirmed, as reported by AFP.  Her daughter, Ana Corina Sosa Machado, will receive the award on her behalf, and deliver her mother’s prepared speech.

Machado has been operating under conditions of extreme risk and often in hiding within Venezuela.

The Norwegian Nobel Institute, which organises the prize, issued a statement expressing relief and satisfaction, despite her absence from the main event. “Although she will not be able to reach the ceremony and today’s events, we are profoundly happy to confirm that she is safe and that she will be with us in Oslo,” the Institute stated, describing her travel as “a journey in a situation of extreme danger.”

The exact timing of her arrival remains uncertain. Erik Aasheim, a spokesman for the Institute, told AFP, “Maria is coming to Oslo, but we do not know when.”

Machado, a prominent figure challenging the Venezuelan government, was named a Nobel Peace Prize laureate for her commitment to democracy and human rights.

Why María Corina Machado won’t attend the Nobel Prize ceremony

Machado has appeared in public only once since she went into hiding in August 2024 during an intense standoff with President Nicolás Maduro. According to The Guardian, Venezuela’s attorney general warned that the 58-year-old opposition leader would be treated as a “fugitive” if she tried to leave the country to receive the prize.

She has been absent from public view since January 9, following a brief detention after she participated in a protest with supporters in Caracas, the capital of Venezuela.

In a powerful display of international support and solidarity with Machado, several prominent Latin American heads of state planned to attend the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony on Wednesday. The list of attendees, according to an AP report, included Argentine President Javier Milei, Ecuador’s President Daniel Noboa, Panama’s President Jose Raul Mulino, and Paraguayan President Santiago Pena.