Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado is safe but will not arrive in time for Wednesday's Nobel Peace Prize ceremony in Oslo, the Norwegian Nobel Institute said. The 58-year-old laureate, who has faced a years-long travel ban and has lived in hiding for more than a year, was expected to receive the prize alongside international dignitaries including Norway's royal family and Latin American heads of state.
Although the ceremony will proceed without her, the institute confirmed Machado will travel to Oslo at a later date. Her daughter, Ana Corina Sosa Machado, will stand in for her to receive the award and deliver the Nobel lecture, the standard protocol when a laureate cannot attend.
Machado, announced as the 2025 Peace Prize winner in October, dedicated the honour in part to Trump, who has claimed he deserved the prize himself. Her staunch criticism of President Nicolás Maduro and alignment with United States hardliners has further inflamed tensions between Caracas and Washington.
Backdrop to the award
The backdrop to the award remains fraught. The Trump administration has carried out more than 20 recent military strikes against suspected drug-trafficking vessels in the Caribbean and Pacific, actions condemned by human rights groups and several governments as unlawful. Meanwhile, sources say Venezuela's armed forces are preparing guerrilla-style resistance in the event of any United States attack.
Machado was barred from running in Venezuela's 2024 presidential election despite winning the opposition primary. International observers and opposition groups say she won the national vote as well, citing detailed tallies, but the electoral authority declared Maduro the victor. The Nobel Prize has become a powerful symbol of global recognition for what they consider the true electoral outcome, elevating Machado as a focal point for Venezuela's democratic movement.