Oslo, Norway — Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado will miss the ceremony to award her the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo on Wednesday, the head of the Norwegian Nobel Institute said.
Machado last appeared in public 11 months ago. Nobel Institute director Kristian Berg Harpviken told public broadcaster NRK the Venezuelan opposition leader was not in the Norwegian capital on the day of the ceremony and her daughter will accept the prize on Machado’s behalf.
“We confirm that she will not attend the Nobel ceremony, but we are optimistic about her presence on the rest of the day’s agenda,” said Machado’s spokesperson, Claudia Macero. She did not give information on Machado’s current location.
The Nobel institute later posted audio on its YouTube channel of a phone call between Machado and the institute’s director Jørgen Watne Frydnes, in which she told him she was on her way to Oslo, but wouldn’t make the award ceremony.
“On behalf of the Venezuelan people, once again, I want to thank the Norwegian Nobel Committee for this immense recognition to the fight of our people for democracy and freedom. We feel very emotional and very honored, and that’s why I am very sad and very sorry to tell you that I won’t be able to arrive in time for the ceremony,” she said in the call, adding: “But I will be in Oslo and I’m on my way to Oslo right now.”
Jonathan Lanza/NurPhoto
“As soon as I arrive, I will be able to embrace all my family and my children that I’ve have not seen for two years, and so many Venezuelans, Norwegians, that I know that share our struggle and our fight. So, thank you very much and I’ll see you very soon.”
Harpviken said just four days ago that Machado confirmed to him that she would attend the ceremony, though he said at the time that, “given the security situation, we cannot say more about the date or how she will arrive.”
Prominent Latin American figures planned to attend Wednesday’s ceremony in a signal of solidarity with Machado, including Argentine President Javier Milei, Ecuador’s President Daniel Noboa, Panama’s President José Raúl Mulino and Paraguayan President Santiago Peña.
Machado has been living in hiding and has not been seen in public since Jan. 9, when she was briefly detained after joining supporters in a protest in Caracas, Venezuela’s capital.
The 58-year-old’s win for her struggle to achieve a democratic transition in her South American nation was announced on Oct. 10, and she was described as a woman “who keeps the flame of democracy burning amid a growing darkness.”
Machado won an opposition primary election and intended to challenge President Nicolás Maduro in last year’s presidential election, but the government barred her from running for office. Retired diplomat Edmundo González took her place.
The lead-up to the July 28, 2024 election saw widespread repression, including disqualifications, arrests and human rights violations. That increased after the country’s National Electoral Council, which is stacked with Maduro loyalists, declared the incumbent the winner.
González sought asylum in Spain last year after a Venezuelan court issued a warrant for his arrest.
U.N. human rights officials and many independent rights groups have expressed concerns about the situation in Venezuela, and called for Maduro to be held accountable for the crackdown on dissent.
Five past Nobel Peace Prize laureates were detained or imprisoned at the time of the award, according to the prize’s official website, most recently Iranian activist Narges Mohammadi in 2023 and Belarusian human rights advocate Ales Bialiatski in 2022.
The others were Liu Xiaobo of China in 2010, Aung San Suu Kyi of Myanmar in 1991 and Carl von Ossietzky of Germany in 1935.
“There is a long tradition that when a Peace Prize laureate cannot be present, close family members represent them,” Harpviken said. “That happened with Narges Mohammadi, and with Ales Bialiatski; both were imprisoned at the time. And the same will happen with Maria Corina Machado today. The daughter will deliver the statement her mother has written.”
