Venezuelan opposition leader Machado reappears : NPR

OSLO, Norway — Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado appeared in public for the first time in 11 months on Thursday after her daring escape from her homeland, as she emerged from a hotel balcony in Norway's capital and waved to an emotional crowd of supporters welcoming the new Nobel laureate.

Her appearance in Oslo came hours after her daughter received the Nobel Peace Prize on her behalf. Machado was recognized after launching the most serious peaceful challenge in years to the authoritarian government of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.

“Freedom! Freedom!” the crowd gathered outside the hotel chanted when they saw Machado. Together they sang the Venezuelan national anthem.

Machado, dressed in jeans and a down jacket, spent a few minutes outside the hotel, where she was joined by members of her family and several of her closest aides. She hugged many in the crowd as they chanted “President! President!

“I want you all to go back to Venezuela,” Machado said as people grabbed their cellphones to take photos.

Hiding in Venezuela

Machado has been in hiding since January 9, when she was briefly detained after joining supporters at a protest in Caracas, the capital of Venezuela. She was expected to attend the awards ceremony on Wednesday in Oslo, where heads of state and her family were among those waiting to meet her.

In an audio recording of the phone call published on the Nobel Prize website, Machado said she would not be able to arrive at the ceremony on time, but that many people were “risking their lives” to get her to Oslo.

Her daughter, Ana Corina Sosa, received the award instead.

“She wants to live in a free Venezuela and will never give up that goal,” Sosa said. “That's why we know everything and I know that she will return to Venezuela very soon.”

Jørgen Vatne Fridnes, chairman of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, said at the award ceremony that “Maria Corina Machado did everything in her power to be able to attend the ceremony here today – traveling in a situation of extreme danger.”

In an audio recording of the phone call published on the Nobel Prize website, Machado said she would not be able to arrive at the ceremony on time, but many people “risked their lives” to get her to Oslo.

“I am very grateful to them, and this is an indicator of what this recognition means to the Venezuelan people,” she said before announcing she was about to board the plane.

Flight tracking data shows the plane she arrived on was flying to Oslo from Bangor, Maine.

Machado said that “since this is an award for all Venezuelans, I believe that they will receive it. And as soon as 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 Venezuelans, Norwegians that I know who share our struggle and our struggle.”

Showing solidarity

In a show of solidarity with Machado, prominent Latin American figures attended Wednesday's event, including Argentine President Javier Miley, Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa, Panamanian President Jose Raul Mulino and Paraguayan President Santiago Peña.

The 58-year-old Machado's victory in her fight for a democratic transition in her South American country was announced on October 10. Watne Fridnes said that “Venezuela has become a brutal authoritarian state” and he called Machado “one of the most outstanding examples of civic courage in recent Latin American history.”

Machado won the opposition primary and intended to challenge Maduro in last year's presidential election, but the government banned her from running for the presidency. Her place was taken by retired diplomat Edmundo Gonzalez.

In the lead-up to the July 28, 2024 elections, there was widespread repression, including disqualification, arrests, and human rights abuses. The figure rose after the country's National Electoral Council, made up of Maduro supporters, declared the incumbent president 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 many 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”

“More than anything, what we Venezuelans have to offer the world is the lesson learned along this long and difficult path: to have democracy, we must be willing to fight for freedom,” Sosa said, delivering a lecture written for the occasion by her mother.

The speech did not address current tensions between Washington and Caracas as US President Donald Trump continues a military operation in the Caribbean that has killed Venezuelans in international waters and threatens to strike Venezuela. Machado has consistently supported Trump's Venezuela strategy.

Among the many “heroes of this journey” noted at the lecture, Sosa mentioned “leaders from around the world who have joined us and championed our cause,” but did not elaborate.

Watne Friednes said of authoritarian leaders such as Maduro that “your power is fickle. Your violence will not prevail over the people who rebel and resist.”

“Mr. Maduro, accept the election results and resign,” he said.

Past winners will not be able to attend

Five past Nobel Peace Prize laureates have been detained or jailed while presenting the prize, most recently Iranian activist Narges Mohammadi in 2023 and Belarusian human rights activist Ales Bialiatski in 2022, according to the prize's official website.

The others were Liu Xiaobo of China in 2010, Aung San Suu Kyi of Myanmar in 1991, and Karl von Ossietzky of Germany in 1935.

Gustavo Tovar-Arroyo, a Venezuelan human rights activist who was forced to flee into exile in 2012, said Machado's supporters “did everything they could to get her here like she deserves. But we knew the risk.”

He added that they were “disappointed that she couldn't attend the ceremony, but that's part of what we do when we fight against a dictatorship, tyranny or a criminal regime. So we're used to it.”