OSLO, Dec 10 (Reuters) – Nobel Peace Prize laureate Maria Corina Machado arrived in Oslo in the middle of the night on Thursday, the head of the Nobel committee said, after she failed to reach the Norwegian capital in time to receive her award at a ceremony held hours earlier.

The 58-year-old engineer had secretly left Venezuela for Oslo in defiance of a decade-long travel ban imposed by authorities in her home country and after spending more than a year in hiding.

“I can confirm that Maria Corina Machado has arrived in Oslo,” Joergen Watne Frydnes told people gathered in the lobby of the Grand Hotel, where Nobel laureates traditionally stay.

“She is on her way here, but she will go straight to meet her family … We’ll see you all tomorrow.”

Her daughter, Ana Corina Sosa Machado, accepted the Nobel Prize in her name and delivered a speech by her mother in which she said democracies must be prepared to fight for freedom in order to survive.

In her speech, Machado said that the prize held profound significance, not only for her country but for the world.

“It reminds the world that democracy is essential to peace,” she said via her daughter, whose voice cracked when she spoke of her mother. “And more than anything, what we Venezuelans can offer the world is the lesson forged through this long and difficult journey: that to have a democracy, we must be willing to fight for freedom.”

Machado left Venezuela by boat on Tuesday and travelled to the Caribbean island of Curacao, from where she departed on a private plane for Norway, according to a person familiar with the matter.

The source, who had been briefed by Machado’s camp, said her escape from the Venezuelan coast was handled by her security staff. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Machado’s travel to Curacao, which was first reported by the Wall Street Journal.

A large portrait of a smiling Machado hung in the Oslo City Hall to represent her. The audience cheered and clapped when Norwegian Nobel Committee head Joergen Watne Frydnes said during his speech that Machado would be coming to Oslo.

Evoking previous laureates Nelson Mandela and Lech Walesa, he said fighters for democracy were expected “to pursue their aims with a moral purity their opponents never display”.

“This is unrealistic. It is unfair,” he said.

“No democracy operates in ideal circumstances. Activist leaders must confront and resolve dilemmas that we onlookers are free to ignore. People living under the dictatorship often have to choose between the difficult and the impossible.”

“Freedom is a choice that must be renewed each day, measured by our willingness and our courage to defend it. For this reason, the cause of Venezuela transcends our borders,” she said in her prepared speech.

“A people who choose freedom contribute not only to themselves, but to humanity.”

In 2024, Machado was barred from running in the presidential election, despite having won the opposition’s primary by a landslide. She went into hiding in August 2024 after authorities expanded arrests of opposition figures following the disputed vote.

The electoral authority and top court declared President Nicolas Maduro the winner, but international observers and the opposition say its candidate handily won and the opposition has published ballot box-level tallies as evidence of its victory.

In her speech, Machado said Venezuelans did not realise in time that their country was sliding into what she described as a dictatorship.

Referring to the late president Hugo Chavez, who was elected in 1999 and held power until his death in 2013, Machado said: “By the time we recognised how fragile our institutions had become, a man who had once led a military coup to overthrow democracy, was elected president. Many thought that charisma could substitute the rule of law.”

“From 1999 onward, the regime dismantled our democracy.”

President Nicolas Maduro, in power since 2013, says U.S. President Donald Trump is trying to overthrow him to gain access to Venezuela’s vast oil reserves and that Venezuelan citizens and armed forces will resist any such attempt.

When Machado won the Nobel Peace Prize in October, she dedicated it in part to Trump, who has said he himself deserved the honour.

She has aligned herself with hawks close to Trump who argue that Maduro has links to criminal gangs that pose a direct threat to U.S. national security, despite doubts raised by the U.S. intelligence community.

The Trump administration has ordered more than 20 military strikes in recent months against alleged drug-trafficking vessels in the Caribbean and off Latin America’s Pacific coast.

Human rights groups, some Democrats and several Latin American countries have condemned the attacks as unlawful extrajudicial killings of civilians.

(Reporting by Gwladys Fouche, Terje Solsvik, Miguel Pereira, Tom Little and Leonhard Foeger in Oslo, Matt Spetalnick in Washington DC, Ilze Filks and Niklas Pollard in Stockholm; Editing by Alison Williams, Alex Richardson and Michael Perry)

OSLO, Dec 10 (Reuters) – Democracies must be prepared to fight for freedom in order to survive, Nobel Peace Prize laureate Maria Corina Machado said on Wednesday, in a speech delivered by her daughter during a ceremony the Venezuelan opposition leader could not attend.

The 58-year-old engineer had been due to receive the award in Oslo, in the presence of King Harald, in defiance of a decade-long travel ban imposed by authorities in her home country and after spending more than a year in hiding.

But she was unable to reach the Norwegian capital in time for the ceremony, though she secretly left Venezuela to try to get there.

“I will be in Oslo, I am on my way to Oslo right now,” Machado said in an audio recording released by the Norwegian Nobel Institute shortly before the ceremony. It was unclear where she was calling from.

In her speech, Machado said that the prize held profound significance, not only for her country but for the world.

“It reminds the world that democracy is essential to peace,” she said via her daughter, Ana Corina Sosa Machado, whose voice cracked when she spoke of her mother. “And more than anything, what we Venezuelans can offer the world is the lesson forged through this long and difficult journey: that to have a democracy, we must be willing to fight for freedom.”

Machado left Venezuela by boat on Tuesday and travelled to the Caribbean island of Curacao, from where she departed on a private plane for Oslo, according to a person familiar with the matter.

The source, who had been briefed by Machado’s camp, said her escape from the Venezuelan coast was handled by her security staff. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Machado’s travel to Curacao, which was first reported by the Wall Street Journal.

A large portrait of a smiling Machado hung in the Oslo City Hall to represent her. The audience cheered and clapped when Norwegian Nobel Committee head Joergen Watne Frydnes said during his speech that Machado would be coming to Oslo.

Evoking previous laureates Nelson Mandela and Lech Walesa, he said fighters for democracy were expected “to pursue their aims with a moral purity their opponents never display”.

“This is unrealistic. It is unfair,” he said.

“No democracy operates in ideal circumstances. Activist leaders must confront and resolve dilemmas that we onlookers are free to ignore. People living under the dictatorship often have to choose between the difficult and the impossible.”

“Freedom is a choice that must be renewed each day, measured by our willingness and our courage to defend it. For this reason, the cause of Venezuela transcends our borders,” she said in her prepared speech.

“A people who choose freedom contribute not only to themselves, but to humanity.”

In 2024, Machado was barred from running in the presidential election, despite having won the opposition’s primary by a landslide. She went into hiding in August 2024 after authorities expanded arrests of opposition figures following the disputed vote.

The electoral authority and top court declared President Nicolas Maduro the winner, but international observers and the opposition say its candidate handily won and the opposition has published ballot box-level tallies as evidence of its victory.

In her speech, Machado said Venezuelans did not realise in time that their country was sliding into what she described as a dictatorship.

Referring to the late president Hugo Chavez, who was elected in 1999 and held power until his death in 2013, Machado said: “By the time we recognised how fragile our institutions had become, a man who had once led a military coup to overthrow democracy, was elected president. Many thought that charisma could substitute the rule of law.”

“From 1999 onward, the regime dismantled our democracy.”

President Nicolas Maduro, in power since 2013, says U.S. President Donald Trump is trying to overthrow him to gain access to Venezuela’s vast oil reserves and that Venezuelan citizens and armed forces will resist any such attempt.

When Machado won the Nobel Peace Prize in October, she dedicated it in part to Trump, who has said he himself deserved the honour.

She has aligned herself with hawks close to Trump who argue that Maduro has links to criminal gangs that pose a direct threat to U.S. national security, despite doubts raised by the U.S. intelligence community.

The Trump administration has ordered more than 20 military strikes in recent months against alleged drug-trafficking vessels in the Caribbean and off Latin America’s Pacific coast.

Human rights groups, some Democrats and several Latin American countries have condemned the attacks as unlawful extrajudicial killings of civilians.

(Reporting by Gwladys Fouche, Terje Solsvik, Miguel Pereira, Tom Little and Leonhard Foeger in Oslo, Matt Spetalnick in Washington DC, Ilze Filks and Niklas Pollard in Stockholm; Editing by Alison Williams and Alex Richardson)

OSLO, Norway (AP) — Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado won the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday.

The former opposition presidential candidate was lauded for being a “key, unifying figure in a political opposition that was once deeply divided — an opposition that found common ground in the demand for free elections and representative government,” said Jørgen Watne Frydnes, chair of the Norwegian Nobel committee.

“In the past year, Miss Machado has been forced to live in hiding. Despite serious threats against her life, she has remained in the country, a choice that has inspired millions. When authoritarians seize power, it is crucial to recognize courageous defenders of freedom who rise and resist.”

Machado’s ally, Edmundo González, who lives in exile in Spain, posted video of himself speaking by phone with Machado.

“I am in shock,” she said, adding, “I cannot believe it.”

González celebrated Machado’s Nobel win in a post on X, calling it a “very well-deserved recognition for the long fight of a woman and of a whole people for our freedom and democracy.”

President Nicolás Maduro’s government routinely targeted its real or perceived opponents ahead of last year’s presidential election.

Machado, who turned 58 this week, was set to run against Maduro, but the government disqualified her. González took her place. He had never run for office before. The lead-up to the election saw widespread repression including disqualifications, arrests and human rights violations.

The crackdown on dissent only increased after the country’s National Electoral Council, which is stacked with Maduro loyalists, declared him the winner despite credible evidence to the contrary.

The election results announced by the Electoral Council sparked protests across the country to which the government responded with force and ended with more than 20 people dead. They also prompted an end to diplomatic relations between Venezuela and various foreign countries, including Argentina.

Machado went into hiding and has not been seen in public since January. A Venezuelan court issued an arrest warrant for González over the publication of election results. He went into exile in Spain and was granted asylum.

Last year, Machado and González were awarded the European Union’s top human rights honor, The Sakharov Prize.

Machado becomes the 20th woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize, of the 112 individuals who have been honored.

There had been persistent speculation ahead of the announcement about the possibility of the prize going to U.S. President Donald Trump, fueled in part by the president himself, amplified by this week’s approval of his plan for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.

Asked about lobbying for and by Trump, Frydnes said: “I think this committee has seen any type of campaign, media attention. We receive thousands and thousands of letters every year of people wanting to say what for them leads to peace.

“This committee sits in a room filled with the portraits of all laureates, and that room is filled with both courage and integrity. So we base only our decision on the work and the will of Alfred Nobel.”

Last year’s award went to Nihon Hidankyo, a grassroots movement of Japanese atomic bombing survivors who have worked for decades to maintain a taboo around the use of nuclear weapons.

The peace prize is the only one of the annual Nobel prizes to be awarded in Oslo, Norway.

Four of the other prizes have already been awarded in the Swedish capital, Stockholm this week — in medicine on Monday, physics on Tuesday, chemistry on Wednesday and literature on Thursday. The winner of the prize in economics will be announced on Monday.

Moulson reported from Berlin and Corder from The Hague, Netherlands.

AP coverage of Nobel Prizes: https://apnews.com/hub/nobel-prizes