The Norwegian Nobel Institute awards the Nobel Peace Prize during a ceremony in Oslo in the afternoon (local time on the Spanish peninsula, early morning in Caracas) in the Ayuntamiento of the Norwegian capital. In the midst of a great revolution inside and outside Venezuela, organizers announced early this year that this year’s winner, Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado, would not be present at the gala, even though she was only able to leave Venezuela to travel to Oslo. Ana Corina Sosa Machado, a 58-year-old leader, is expected to be recognized in her representation, according to the official program.
“The 2025 Nobel Peace Prize is awarded to a courageous person, of firm principles and deeply committed to peace: to a woman who keeps alive the call of democracy in the midst of growing darkness,” underlines the Norwegian Institute in announcing the prize on October 10, at a political moment of total uncertainty for Venezuela and in a global context “in which democracy is threatened”. The committee carrying out the recognition highlighted Machado’s relentless defense of human rights in his country, as well as his determination to lead the resistance against Nicolas Maduro’s government. In recent months, the delivery of recognitions represents one of the greatest symbolic victories that the Venezuelan opposition has won in more than two decades of struggle against Chavismo.
However, the news of the absence of Machado, confined in hiding since August 2024, has had a huge impact in recent hours, after several days of great anticipation and multiple versions that give credence to the possibility that Venezuela emerges to receive the most important recognition of its political sector. “Unfortunately, he is not in Norway at the moment. And he will not be at the Oslo Ayuntamiento stadium,” confirmed Kristian Berg Harpviken, director of the Nobel Institute.
In accordance with a strict protocol dating back to 1905, it is planned that during the first gala speech, the director of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, Jorgen Watne Frydnes, will give a brief biographical speech about Machado and explain the reasons behind the decision to award him the prize. Shortly after, Sosa Machado is expected to take the stage to receive a diploma and medal in representation of his mother, as members of Norway’s royal house, senior officials from the Scandinavian country and hundreds of attendants look on. Finally, the ceremony, which lasts about an hour, ends with a speech written by this year’s winner and read by her daughter.
The Venezuelan Nobel laureate’s mother, sister and other closest members of his entourage are in Oslo. Former Venezuelan presidential candidate Edmundo González will also be present at the ceremony; the ultraconservative president of Argentina, Javier Milei; the Paraguayan representative, Santiago Peña; the Ecuadorian leader Daniel Noboa and the Panamanian José Raúl Mulino. Other members of the delegation accompanying the opposition leader and who have confirmed their presence in the Norwegian capital are Cayetana Álvarez de Toledo, deputy spokesperson of the PP in the Congress of Diputados, the Republican deputy María Elvira Salazar and the former Colombian president Iván Duque. The big absentee is the main protagonist of the evening.
Information in development. There will be an update soon.
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