Machado Greets Supporters in Oslo After Receiving Nobel Peace Prize

Nobel Peace prize laureate Maria Corina Machado appeared in oslo this morning, embracing well-wishers after scaling barriers outside her hotel. The Venezuelan opposition figure hadn’t arrived in time to receive her award at the ceremony held earlier.

The 58-year-old engineer secretly left Venezuela for Oslo, defying a decade-long travel ban imposed by authorities and having spent over a year in hiding. It’s a remarkable feat, demonstrating her commitment to her cause.

Speaking in Oslo, Machado described the joy of reuniting with her children – who live in exile – for the first time in roughly two years.

“For over 16 months I haven’t been able to hug or touch anyone,” Machado told the BBC. “Suddenly, in a matter of hours, I’ve been able to see the people I love the most, and touch them and cry and pray together.”

Machado greeted dozens of people from the balcony of Oslo’s grand Hotel, where nobel laureates traditionally stay. She waved and sang the national anthem with the crowd, who waved Venezuelan flags and filmed her with their phones.

Later, Machado came down to the street and climbed over crowd barriers to hug and shake hands with those who had gathered in the cold, hoping for a glimpse of her.

“After all these months in which she has been in hiding and her life has been in danger, seeing her together with the entire Venezuelan diaspora is a pleasure and a reassurance that she is safe,” said Diana Luna, a Mexican-German woman in the crowd. “It’s also a way to keep the Venezuelan cause alive and put more pressure on the regime.”

Machado’s daughter, Ana Corina Sosa Machado, accepted the Nobel Prize on her mother’s behalf and delivered a speech written by her. In the speech, Machado stated that democracies must be prepared to fight for freedom to survive.

Machado said the prize held profound importance, not just for Venezuela, but for the world. “It reminds the world that democracy is essential to peace,” she said through her daughter, whose voice trembled as she spoke. “And more than anything,what Venezuelans can offer the world is the lesson forged through this long and difficult journey: that to have a democracy,we must be willing to fight for freedom.”