Nobel winner Machado arrives in Oslo after months in hiding

Nobel Peace Prize laureate Maria Corina Machado appeared in Oslo after spending more than a year in hiding following Nicolas Maduro’s disputed election victory last year. Reports suggest she initially fled by boat to the Caribbean island of Curaçao, which hosts a small US military base.

Nobel committee head Joergen Watne Frydnes confirmed her arrival to a gathered crowd at the Grand Hotel, noting that she would meet her family before making a public appearance. Her daughter, Ana Corina Sosa Machado, accepted the prize on her behalf at Wednesday’s ceremony, saying they would finally reunite after “16 months of living hell.”

Machado went into hiding in August 2024 after authorities intensified arrests of opposition figures. Although she won the opposition primary, she was barred from running in the 2024 presidential election. Venezuela’s election authorities and top court declared Maduro the winner, despite opposition claims and independent tallies showing their candidate had prevailed.

During the ceremony in Oslo City Hall, a large portrait of Machado was displayed, and the audience applauded when Frydnes announced that she was on her way. He invoked figures like Nelson Mandela and Lech Walesa, noting that democracy activists often face moral dilemmas their opponents never do, adding that those living under dictatorship frequently must choose “between the difficult and the impossible.”