Venezuelan opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize laureate finally shows up in Oslo for the first time after months of disappearing, since she had been awarded.
Maria said that she knows "exactly the risks" she's taking by travelling to Norway to collect her Nobel Peace Prize, but she did not receive her award herself and her daughter took her award on her behalf.
Marina Corina Machado was hiding in Venezuela, as she was fearful of her safety under the authoritarian regime of President Nicolas Maduro Moros.
Members of Maduro’s regime denounced Machado’s award, with the vice-president, Delcy Rodríguez, describing the Nobel ceremony as “a total failure” that her adversary had failed to attend.
“They say she was scared,” Rodríguez added, claiming the 2025 Nobel prize was “stained with blood.”
The 58 years old made the covert journey despite a travel ban and a threat from the Venezuelan government that she would be labelled as a ‘fugitive,’ reports BBC.
While addressing this concern, Maria responded, "I just want to say that I'm here today because many men and women risked their lives in order for me to arrive in Oslo."
Above the twinkling Christmas lights of Oslo’s Grand Hotel, Maria Corina Machado emerged through a small white doorway onto a balcony and a crowd of dozens of supporters erupted into cheers.
Smiling widely with her palms pressed together in front of her face, the Venezuelan opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize laureate appeared in public on Thursday December 11, 2025.
To her supporters' delight, she then came outside, climbing over the security barricades to get closer and greeted them in person.
"Maria!" "Maria!" they shouted, holding their phones aloft to record the historic moment.
In an emotional moment, Machado waved to cheering supporters who had gathered outside the Norwegian capital's Grand Hotel, blowing them kisses and singing with them.
While giving an interview, Maria, the mother of three, informed that she “had not seen her children in about two years, having sent them away from Venezuela for their own safety.
"For over 16 months I haven't been able to hug or touch anyone," she said. "Suddenly in the matter of a few hours I've been able to see the people I love the most, and touch them and cry and pray together."
There has been much speculation about whether she will be able to safely return to Venezuela.
"Of course I'm going back," she informed media."I know exactly the risks I'm taking."
"I'm going to be in the place where I'm most useful for our cause," she continued. "Until a short time ago, the place I thought I had to be was Venezuela; the place I believe I have to be today, on behalf of our cause, is Oslo," she added.
The Nobel Institute awarded Machado the prize this year for "her struggle to achieve a just and peaceful transition from dictatorship to democracy" in Venezuela.
Earlier on Wednesday, December 10, 2025, her daughter, Ana Corina Sosa, accepted the Nobel Peace Prize on her mother’s behalf.
Maria Machado vowed that her country would soon be “bright, democratic, and free.”
Additionally, Machado added that she and her team are ready to form a government in Venezuela.
