Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado did not appear in Oslo on Wednesday to receive her Nobel Peace Prize, the Nobel Institute confirmed, ending days of uncertainty over whether she would attempt the journey despite threats from Caracas.
“She is not coming to the ceremony,” Nobel Institute spokesperson Erik Aasheim told AFP ahead of the event at Oslo’s City Hall. Machado, 58, has been living in hiding since August 2024 and has kept her travel plans secret amid warnings from Venezuelan authorities.
Barred from traveling to Norway
Attorney General Tarek William Saab said last month that Machado would be considered a “fugitive” if she traveled to Norway.
Machado has accused President Nicolas Maduro of stealing the July 2024 election after she was barred from running.
While the opposition leader remained in Venezuela, several relatives—including her mother, three sisters, and daughter—were in Oslo for the award ceremony.
The Oslo ceremony coincides with a large US military build-up in the Caribbean in recent weeks and deadly strikes on what Washington says are drug smuggling boats.
Machado has been criticised by some for aligning herself with US President Donald Trump, to whom she has dedicated her Nobel Prize.
Maduro insists that the real goal of the US operations — which Machado has said are justified — is to topple the government and seize Venezuela's oil reserves.
