The daughter of Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado accepted the Nobel Peace Prize on her mother’s behalf on Wednesday, hours after authorities said Machado would not attend the ceremony.
Machado has been in hiding and has not been seen in public since January 9, when she was briefly arrested after joining supporters at a protest in Caracas, the capital of Venezuela.
Ana Corina Sosa Machado said at the ceremony organized in the Norwegian capital that the Venezuelan opposition leader would arrive in Oslo “in a few hours” but would return to her country “very soon,” her daughter said on Wednesday as she accepted the Nobel Peace Prize in her place.
“He wants to live in a free Venezuela and will never give up on that goal. That’s why we all know, and I know, that he will return to Venezuela very soon,” he said.
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“Maria Corina Machado did everything to be able to take part in the ceremony here today, a journey in a situation of extreme danger,” said Jørgen Watne Frydnes, president of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, at the award ceremony.
“Although he cannot come to this ceremony and today’s events, we are very pleased to confirm that he is well and will be with us here in Oslo,” he said to applause.
The director of the Norwegian Nobel Institute and Machado’s spokesman said earlier Wednesday that she would not be able to attend the ceremony. Instead, his daughter Ana Corina Sosa did.
Maria Corina Machado said in an audio recording of a telephone conversation published on the Nobel website that many people had risked their lives for her to get to Oslo. “I am very grateful to them and this is a testament to what this recognition means to the Venezuelan people,” she said before announcing that she was about to board a plane.
“I know that there are hundreds of Venezuelans from different parts of the world who were able to reach their city and are now in Oslo, with their family, my team, so many colleagues,” Machado added.
“And since this is an award for all Venezuelans, I think they will accept it. And once it arrives, I will be able to hug my whole family and my children, whom I have not seen for two years, and so many Venezuelans and Norwegians who I know share our struggle and our struggle.”
“Maduro must resign”
The president of the Norwegian Nobel Committee called this Wednesday on Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro to accept the results of the 2024 elections and resign from office, while the Nobel Peace Prize was presented to the absent oppositionist María Corina Machado.
“Mr Maduro: you must accept the election results and resign from office,” said Jørgen Watne Frydnes before being interrupted by applause from the public in Oslo city hall.
“It must lay the foundation for a peaceful transition to democracy. Because this is the will of the Venezuelan people. María Corina Machado and the Venezuelan opposition have lit a flame that no torture, no lies and no fear can extinguish,” he continued.
Why didn’t Corina Machado attend the ceremony?
Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado is traveling to Oslo but did not arrive in time to receive the Nobel Peace Prize this Wednesday that her daughter received.
Since October, when the award was announced, it has been a mystery whether Machado would be able to travel to Oslo. The opposition leader has been living in secret since August 2024 and has not appeared in public for eleven months at a protest in Caracas against President Nicolás Maduro.
This Wednesday, the Nobel Institute announced that Machado was “safe” and that he would travel to the Norwegian capital, but that he “will not make it to the award ceremony.”
“It is expected to arrive sometime between tonight and tomorrow morning,” Nobel Institute director Kristian Berg Harpviken told AFP.
Over the weekend, the Nobel Institute announced that Machado would personally accept the award, which includes a gold medal, a diploma and $1.2 million. He also organized a press conference and interviews with various international media on Tuesday, but these were canceled.
Relatives and allies of Machado in Oslo said they hoped to see her in the Norwegian city, where dozens of exiled Venezuelans and the presidents of Argentina, Panama, Ecuador and Paraguay have traveled.
Her former campaign manager Magalli Meda let it be known on Tuesday that her opponent had already left Venezuela. “How can we believe that María Corina will not return and remain in exile,” Meda said in a statement published in X.
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