Venezuelan opposition leader to miss Nobel Peace Prize ceremony

Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado will miss the ceremony to award her the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo on Wednesday, the head of the Norwegian Nobel Institute said.

Machado has not appeared in public for 11 months. Nobel Institute director Kristian Berg Harpviken told public broadcaster NRK that Machado’s daughter will accept the prize on her behalf. He later said Machado was expected to arrive in Oslo during the day but “unfortunately, she won’t arrive in time to attend today’s ceremony or other events.”

“We confirm that she will not attend the Nobel ceremony, but we are optimistic about her presence for the rest of the day’s agenda,” Machado’s spokesperson Claudia Macero said. She did not disclose Machado’s current location.

Several prominent Latin American leaders planned to attend the ceremony in a show of solidarity, including Argentine President Javier Milei, Ecuador’s President Daniel Noboa, Panama’s President José Raúl Mulino, and Paraguayan President Santiago Peña.

Machado has been living in hiding and has not appeared publicly since January 9, when she was briefly detained after joining supporters at a protest in Caracas.

The 58-year-old’s Nobel Peace Prize—awarded for her struggle to achieve a democratic transition in Venezuela—was announced on October 10. She was described as a woman “who keeps the flame of democracy burning amid a growing darkness.”

Machado won the opposition primary and intended to challenge President Nicolás Maduro in last year’s presidential election, but the government barred her from running. Retired diplomat Edmundo González replaced her as the candidate.

The lead-up to the July 28, 2024 election was marked by widespread repression, including disqualifications, arrests, and human rights violations. The crackdown intensified after the National Electoral Council—dominated by Maduro loyalists—declared the incumbent the winner.

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

UN human rights officials and numerous independent rights groups have expressed concern about the situation in Venezuela and called for Maduro to be held accountable for the repression of dissent.

Five past Nobel Peace Prize laureates were detained or imprisoned at the time of their award, according to the prize’s official website, including Iranian activist Narges Mohammadi in 2023 and Belarusian human rights advocate 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 laureate cannot be present, close family members represent them,” Harpviken said. “That happened with Narges Mohammadi and with Ales Bialiatski; both were imprisoned at the time. And the same will happen with María Corina Machado today. Her daughter will deliver the statement her mother has written.”

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

He added that they are “disappointed that she cannot attend 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.” (Trinidad and Tobago Guardian)