Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado to miss Nobel Peace Prize ceremony in Oslo

Oslo, Norway — Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado will miss the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony in Oslo on Wednesday, said the director of the Norwegian Nobel Institute.

Machado last appeared in public 11 months ago. Nobel Institute director Kristian Berg Harpviken told public broadcaster NRK that the Venezuelan opposition leader was not in the Norwegian capital on the day of the ceremony and that his daughter would 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 agenda for the day,” Machado spokeswoman Claudia Macero said. She did not provide information on Machado’s current location.

Harpviken said just four days ago that Machado confirmed to him that she would attend the ceremony, although he said at the time that “given the security situation, we cannot say more about the date or how it will arrive.”

Prominent Latin American figures planned to attend Wednesday’s ceremony in solidarity with Machado, including Argentine President Javier Milei, Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa, Panamanian President José Raúl Mulino and Paraguayan President Santiago Peña.

Machado has been living in hiding and has not been seen in public since January 9, when she was briefly detained after joining supporters at a protest in Caracas, Venezuela’s capital.

The 58-year-old’s victory for her fight to achieve a democratic transition in her South American country was announced on October 10, and she was described as a woman “keeping the flame of democracy alive amid growing darkness.”

Machado won the opposition primary election and intended to challenge President Nicolas Maduro in last year’s presidential election, but the government barred him from running in the election. Retired diplomat Edmundo González took his place.

The period leading up to the July 28, 2024 elections was marked by widespread repression, including disqualifications, arrests and human rights violations. That figure rose after the country’s National Electoral Council, made up of Maduro loyalists, declared the incumbent president the winner.

González sought asylum in Spain last year after a Venezuelan court issued an arrest warrant for him.

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 suppressing dissent.

According to the prize’s official website, five former Nobel Peace Prize laureates have been detained or imprisoned at the time of the prize, most recently Iranian activist Narges Mohammadi in 2023 and Belarusian human rights defender 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 winner cannot be present, their immediate family members represent them,” Harpviken said. “This happened with Narges Mohammadi and with Ales Bialiatski; both were imprisoned at the time. And the same thing will happen today with Maria Corina Machado. The girl will make the statement that her mother wrote.”