Machado’s daughter accepts Nobel Peace Prize in Venezuelan opposition chief’s absence

OSLO, Norway — Venezuelan opposition chief María Corina Machado ‘s daughter accepted the Nobel Peace Prize on her mom’s behalf Wednesday, hours after officers mentioned Machado would miss the ceremony.

Machado has been in hiding and has not been seen in public since Jan. 9, when she was briefly detained after becoming a member of supporters in a protest in Caracas, Venezuela’s capital.

Jørgen Watne Frydnes, chair of the Norwegian Nobel committee, advised the award ceremony that “María Corina Machado has done everything in her power to be able to attend the ceremony here today — a journey in a situation of extreme danger.”

“Although she will not be able to reach this ceremony and today’s events, we are profoundly happy to confirm that she is safe, and that she will be with us here in Oslo,” he mentioned to applause.

The director of the Norwegian Nobel institute and Machado’s spokesperson mentioned earlier Wednesday that she would not have the ability to attend the ceremony. Her daughter Ana Corina Sosa did as a substitute.

María Corina Machado mentioned in an audio recording of a telephone name revealed on the Nobel web site that many individuals had “risked their lives” for her to reach in Oslo.

“I am very grateful to them, and this is a measure of what this recognition means to the Venezuelan people,” she mentioned earlier than indicating she was about to board a airplane.

“I know that there are hundreds of Venezuelans from different parts of the world that were able to reach your city that are right now in Oslo, family, my team, so many colleagues,” Machado added.

“And since this is a prize for all Venezuelans, I believe that it will be received by them. And 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.”

Latin American leaders current in solidarity

Outstanding Latin American figures attended Wednesday in a sign of solidarity with Machado, together with Argentine President Javier Milei, Ecuador’s President Daniel Noboa, Panama’s President José Raúl Mulino and Paraguayan President Santiago Peña.

The 58-year-old’s win for her wrestle to realize a democratic transition in her South American nation was introduced on Oct. 10, and he or she was described as a girl “who keeps the flame of democracy burning amid a growing darkness.”

The daughter of the Nobel Peace Prize laureate, Ana Corina Sosa, who will settle for the award on behalf of her mom, Venezuelan opposition chief Maria Corina Machado, arrives for the Nobel Peace Prize award ceremony, in Oslo, Norway, Wednesday Dec. 10, 2025.

Ole Berg-Rusten/AP through NTB Scanpix Pool

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Ole Berg-Rusten/AP through NTB Scanpix Pool

Machado gained an opposition major election and meant to problem President Nicolás Maduro in final yr’s presidential election, however the authorities barred her from operating for workplace. Retired diplomat Edmundo González took her place.

The lead-up to the July 28, 2024, election noticed widespread repression, together with disqualifications, arrests and human rights violations. That elevated after the nation’s Nationwide Electoral Council, which is stacked with Maduro loyalists, declared the incumbent the winner.

González, who sought asylum in Spain final yr after a Venezuelan courtroom issued a warrant for his arrest, attended Wednesday’s ceremony, which was neglected by a big portrait of Machado.

U.N. human rights officers and plenty of unbiased rights teams have expressed issues concerning the scenario in Venezuela, and known as for Maduro to be held accountable for the crackdown on dissent.

Some earlier winners have been unable to attend

5 previous Nobel Peace Prize laureates have been detained or imprisoned on the time of the award, in accordance with the prize’s official web site, most not too long ago Iranian activist Narges Mohammadi in 2023 and Belarusian human rights advocate Ales Bialiatski in 2022.

The others have been Liu Xiaobo of China in 2010, Aung San Suu Kyi of Myanmar in 1991 and Carl von Ossietzky of Germany in 1935.

Gustavo Tovar-Arroyo, a Venezuelan human rights activist who was pressured to flee into exile in 2012, mentioned Machado’s supporters “did the best for her to be here as she deserves. But we knew the risk.”

He added that they’re “disappointed that she cannot be in the ceremony, but this is part of what we do when we fight against a dictatorship, a tyranny or a criminal regime. So we are used to it.”