Arya News - Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado was awarded this year`s Nobel Peace Prize in absentia on Wednesday. Her daughter, Ana Corina Sosa Machado, accepted the prestigious Nobel medal and accompanying certificate at the award ceremony in Oslo City Hall.
Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado was awarded this year"s Nobel Peace Prize in absentia on Wednesday.
Her daughter, Ana Corina Sosa Machado, accepted the prestigious Nobel medal and accompanying certificate at the award ceremony in Oslo City Hall.
The Norwegian Nobel Committee announced in October that it had selected Machado as the recipient of the 2025 Peace Prize because of her commitment to the democratic rights of the Venezuelan people, to whom she dedicated her award.
Machado, who lives in hiding, is a staunch opponent of Venezuela"s authoritarian President Nicolás Maduro.
There had been uncertainty for weeks about whether she would be able to travel safely to the ceremony in Oslo, which traditionally takes place on December 10 - the anniversary of the death of Swedish dynamite inventor Alfred Nobel, who founded the awards.
On Wednesday morning, the Nobel Institute announced that Machado would not be attending the award ceremony. It later said, however, that she is nonetheless expected in Oslo, probably on Wednesday.
In an interview published on the official Nobel Prize X account just before the start of the ceremony, Machado confirmed that she was on her way to Norway.
By making the trip, the 58-year-old risks serious repercussions upon returning to her home country.
The Venezuelan public prosecutor"s office recently threatened to consider Machado a fugitive if she left the country due to various investigations against her. She could face arrest or a travel ban, which could have far-reaching consequences for the opposition movement.