Nobel Peace Prize laureate, Maria Corina Machado, the Venezuelan opposition figure, announced her intention to take her award back to Venezuela, though she declined to specify the timing of her return.
Machado arrived in Oslo, Norway, in the early hours of Thursday, missing the official Nobel ceremony held just hours earlier.
Machado left Venezuela in great secrecy, defying a decade-long travel ban imposed by authorities and ending more than a year in hiding to receive the honor.
Dressed in white, the 58-year-old engineer told reporters at Norway’s parliament, “I came to receive the prize on behalf of the Venezuelan people and I will take it back to Venezuela at the correct moment”.
When she won the prize in October, Machado dedicated it, in part, to US President Donald Trump. She has allied herself with political figures close to Trump who contend that Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro has links to criminal organizations that pose a direct threat to US national security.
Speaking alongside Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere, Machado asserted that Venezuela has devolved into “the criminal hub of the Americas”. She argued that the regime is sustained by a powerfully funded repression system fueled by illicit revenue streams.
“We need to cut those flows,” she stated, citing drug trafficking, the black market of oil, and arms and human trafficking as sources of these funds.
Machado was asked if she would support a US invasion of her home country; she responded by saying Venezuela has already been invaded by actors such as drug cartels, and Russian and Iranian agents.
Machado’s appearance in Norway comes amid heightened tensions between the US and Venezuela, including recent US military strikes against alleged drug-trafficking vessels.
This activity was highlighted by President Trump’s announcement on Wednesday that the US had seized an oil tanker under sanctions off the Venezuelan coast.
“I believe that President Trump’s actions have been decisive to reach the point where we are right now, in which the regime is weaker than ever,” Machado said at a later event.
She affirmed that Maduro’s rule would eventually end and stressed the need to prepare for a transition in the country. “I’m going back to Venezuela regardless of when Maduro goes out. He’s going out, but the moment will be determined by when I’m finished doing the things that I came out to do,” she added.
After her pre-dawn arrival, Machado greeted dozens of people from the balcony of Oslo’s Grand Hotel and later went down to the street to greet the crowd. She thanked the people who risked their lives to help her leave, confirming that US authorities also provided support, but declined to give details of her secret departure to protect those involved.
Venezuelan Minister of the Interior Diosdado Cabello only stated late Wednesday that Machado left the country “without drama”.
Machado was barred from running in last year’s presidential election despite winning the opposition’s primary by a landslide.
She had been in hiding since August 2024 following the disputed vote where the opposition claims its candidate won despite the electoral authority declaring President Nicolas Maduro the winner.
Separately, a UN Fact-Finding Mission report released on Thursday stated that Venezuela’s Bolivarian National Guard has committed serious human rights violations and crimes against humanity over the past decade in targeting political opponents…
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