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Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado will not be attending the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony in Oslo on Wednesday, as her current location remains unknown, according to the Norwegian Nobel Institute director. Machado, aged 58, was supposed to accept the award at Oslo City Hall alongside King Harald, Queen Sonja, and Latin American leaders including Argentine President Javier Milei and Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa. The event is scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. (1200 GMT).
Machado had planned to receive the accolade despite a travel ban imposed by Venezuelan authorities over the past decade, and after spending more than a year in hiding. Kristian Berg Harpviken, Institute director and the Nobel prize secretary, confirmed that she is not present in Norway and will miss the ceremony. When asked about her whereabouts, he replied, “I don’t know.”
Typically, when a laureate cannot attend, a close family member receives the prize and delivers the Nobel lecture, which in this case will be her daughter, Ana Corina Sosa Machado. Machado previously dedicated her award, announced in October, partly to former U.S. President Donald Trump, who claimed he himself deserved the honor.
President Nicolas Maduro, in office since 2013, accuses Trump of attempting to overthrow him to gain control of Venezuela’s extensive oil reserves. Maduro asserts that both the Venezuelan people and armed forces will resist any such endeavors. The Nobel Institute has not issued further comments on Machado’s absence.
Machado has aligned herself with Trump-era hawks who contend that Maduro has ties to criminal organizations threatening U.S. national security, despite skepticism from U.S. intelligence agencies. Recently, the Trump administration has conducted over 20 military operations targeting suspected drug-trafficking ships in the Caribbean and near Latin America’s Pacific coast. Critics, including human rights advocates, some Democrats, and several Latin American nations, have condemned these strikes as unlawful extrajudicial killings.
Sources with insight into Venezuela’s military planning suggest that if the U.S. initiates air or ground attacks, the armed forces are prepared to engage in guerrilla tactics or cause chaos to resist. Last year, Machado was barred from running in Venezuela’s presidential election despite winning the opposition primary by a large margin. She went into hiding in August 2024 after authorities intensified arrests of opposition figures following a disputed election that officially declared Maduro the winner. Many international observers and opposition groups maintain that Machado’s side actually secured a decisive victory, citing detailed ballot box tallies as evidence.
Christopher Sabatini, a senior fellow specializing in Latin America at Chatham House, commented that the Nobel accolade signals significant international validation of the forgotten democratic efforts and has elevated Machado as a hopeful figure for the global community. “Movements for democracy often need a face and a compelling story,” he added.
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