Thousands of fleeing people embrace in Oslo after years of exile for Machado’s Nobel Prize

Although she did not arrive on time for the ceremony, after leaving Venezuela on Tuesday on a boat via Curaçao, she He promised, through his children, that it would come…and that he would greet at dawn, from the balcony of the Grand Hôtel.

And so it was. Around 1:00 a.m. Spanish time, Machado arrived on a plane to Oslo to reunite with her family and an hour and a half later she appeared, visibly tired, to greet her compatriots who had been waiting for a year to be able to see her publicly again after her forced exile.

With her hand on her chest and singing the national anthem, she wanted to show her ability to defy the ban on leaving Venezuela imposed on her by the Maduro regime to meet those who consider her their leader on the day they honored her for her sacrifice for peace.

Afterwards, she decided to take to the streets to directly greet the people who wanted to support her at this moment, even ignoring the security protocol and jumping over the fences that protected the entrance to the Grand Hotel.

Thousands of exiled Venezuelans, scattered across the world for years, converged on the Norwegian capital to celebrate “the tireless fight” of Machado between cries of thanks, of “Long live Venezuela”, “Strength, Maria!” and “Freedom!”

What began as an official ceremony at City Hall gradually transformed into “a historic reunion of a nation rising from the ashes of political persecution and forced exile.”

David Smolanskydemocratic leader and OAS commissioner for Venezuelan migrants and refugees, captured the magnitude of the moment with a sentence that resonated with emotion in the northern streets: “It will be a day that will be studied in the history of Venezuela, today the eyes of the world are therewith us.”

This was not a rhetorical exaggeration. It was the realization that something definitive and irreversible was happening at this very moment.

Machado’s physical absence from the ceremony did not diminish the emotional impact of the event.

Your daughter, Ana Corina Sosa Machadotook the stage at Oslo City Hall to read the winner’s speech. Jose Antonio VegaRepresentative of Vente Venezuela in Spanish exile, captured the message, describing it as deeply meaningful.

“It was exciting to listen to the speech of María Corina’s daughter, when receiving the award on behalf of her mother,” Vega explained. “Nails beautiful wordsfull of admiration for their mother, pronounced as a girl and as a Venezuelan in the diasporain his case in the United States.

broken voice

Ana Corina’s voice broke as she spoke of her mother’s struggle and the resilience of the Venezuelan people.

The audience, made up largely of Venezuelan exiles and democratic leaders from across Latin America, felt every pause, “every emotionally charged word held back for years.” Many cried remembering the sacrifice of the Democratic leader.

“He was the meeting of a citythousands of exiles who have remained abroad for seven or eight years, without seeing each other except through a screen” said Smolansky walking among the torches, his voice still trembling.

THE hugs between strangers who recognized each other Because of their common language, their common pain, they filled the squares of Oslo for hours. Others They had not seen each other since leaving Venezuela.forced to disperse in search of freedom and economic opportunity.

“We kissed full of hope for a free Venezuela” continued Smolansky, describing the atmosphere that enveloped the Norwegian capital. “Today Venezuela took a huge step and we remember it with pride. to the dead, to the political prisoners, to the millions of exilesknowing that all these sacrifices will not be in vain.”

The torchlight march, “a tradition since 1954,” Vega recalled, was the most powerful visual symbol of the night. Thousands of lights ran through the northern streets as they sang slogans in Spanishthey wore tricolor flags stirred by the wind and embraced each other through tears.

It was not just a political demonstration. Was “an act of collective resurrection”the catharsis of a diaspora who felt that their struggle was finally recognized by the world.

“Years of strategy”

Vega offered revealing details about how María Corina managed to escape the country. “She had been developing her exit strategy for years, in the hope that it will never be necessarybut foreseeing that one day its figure in the world would be a capital outside the country, as it is today.

The 58-year-old engineer left Venezuela on a boat on Tuesdayarriving on the Caribbean island of Curaçao before traveling to Oslo with the help of the United States government.

The escape was operationally complex and required last minute decisionswhich explains the delay.

“We cannot yet give details on how their extraction from the territory took place, but it was done with a lot of sufferingthe tactic had to be changed at the last minute, and that’s why she couldn’t win the prize herself,” Vega said. “But we know everything is okayand that he was still on his way to Oslo.

The ceremony took place in the presence of political figures from across Latin America.

Next to Edmundo Gonzalezelected president of Venezuela, from whom Nicolas Maduro’s regime stole the 2024 elections, the Argentine presidents were present, Javier Milei; from Panama, José Raul Mulino; from Paraguay, Santiago Pena; and Ecuador, Daniel Noboaaccompanied thousands of Venezuelan democrats gathered in Oslo.

Former presidents like Ivan Duque from Colombia, Sébastien Pinera of Chile and Spanish political figures such as Cayetana Alvarez de Toledo And Beatriz Becerra joined the historic act… but “no representative” of the government of Pedro Sánchez, who did not congratulate the Nobel Prize.

Applause on the plane

When Machado’s children, Ana Corina and Ricardo Sosathey came out to the balcony to thank the gathered masses, the moment reached its emotional peak.

“It was a very moving image for everyone, of proud children, happy for the union that drives the fight of their mother, whom they had not seen for more than two years“Smolansky described the scene which was recorded in the retinas of thousands of people present.

Vega shared a detail that moved him since he had taken off from Madrid 24 hours before. “Leaving Barajas on Tuesday, the plane captain greeted us over the public address systemonce the route has stabilized.

Even the airport staff seemed aware that they were heading into a defining moment in Venezuela’s recent history. “The scene was beautiful and movingprovoking applause from everyone in attendance.”

The question that floats now is If Machado will be able to return to Venezuela or if this day marks an irreversible turning point.

Vega was cautious but hopeful: “She wants to come back, and the strategy is designed, We’ll see how it can be done…and if it can be done“, he ventured, anticipating that the United States would accelerate its intervention against the Chavista regime.

“It has been a long period of struggle and suffering, but it’s getting closer“Smolansky concluded as thousands of Venezuelans marched through northern streets with burning torches, demanding a future that this Wednesday seemed a little closer.