María Corina Machado reportedly left Venezuela this Tuesday with the support of the United States. The opposition lawmaker left on a boat that left Venezuela’s west coast heading for the Caribbean island of Curacao, US officials revealed to the Wall Street Journal. His escape, apparently clandestine, took place just a day before the Nobel Prize ceremony, so Machado failed to arrive in time to collect the prize given to his daughter Ana Corina Sosa Machado. Her promise, as she herself communicated to the organization, is to appear in Oslo, which has dispelled doubts about her fate and concerns for her safety.
This is the most concrete information released so far on the departure of the Venezuelan opposition leader. Rumors about the operation have been circulating for days, fueled even by Chavismo itself, which spread that Machado had already been outside Venezuela for several days. Speculation places her in a diplomatic vehicle crossing the border into Colombia and even escaping aboard one of the U.S. planes landing in the country to transport deported Venezuelan immigrants. There has also been speculation about whether or not his departure had the connivance of the regime.
The trip to Oslo was not easy. Machado has been in hiding for 16 months to avoid arrest by Nicolas Maduro’s government. More than a hundred of his collaborators are in prison and many others have had to hide or go into exile to avoid being captured by Chavismo’s intelligence services.
Added to the difficulties of his departure is the uncertainty regarding his return. In addition to the direct persecutions of last year, Chavismo banned her from leaving the country more than ten years ago, when she was a deputy.
The opposition leader’s allies, notes the Wall Street Journal, tried to keep the trip secret to ensure his safety. In a phone call with Nobel Committee Chairman Jørgen Watne Frydnes, published on the Peace Prize website, Machado said “many people” had risked their lives for her to come to Oslo.
“I’m very grateful to them. And this is an example of what this recognition means to the Venezuelan people,” she said, adding that she was preparing to board a plane. “We are very excited and very honored, and that is why I am very sad to inform you that I will not be able to make it to the ceremony on time, but I will be in Oslo. I am traveling to Oslo at the moment.”
The Nobel Committee did not say when the phone call took place or where Machado was at the time. Hours earlier, the institute’s director, Kristian Berg Harpviken, told Norwegian public broadcaster NRK that Machado’s transfer to Oslo had been more complicated than expected. “He lives with an outright threat of death from the regime,” he said. “This extends beyond Venezuela’s borders, through the regime and its associates around the world. »
In May, five of his main collaborators, housed for a year in the Argentine embassy in Caracas, heavily guarded by Maduro’s police, managed to leave as part of a secret operation with the support of the United States, the details of which still remain a mystery.
About The Author
