María Corina Machado, the Venezuela opposition leader awarded this year’s Nobel Peace Prize, made a dramatic public appearance in Oslo, Norway, on Thursday. She waved to supporters from a balcony at the Grand Hotel and confirmed she had completed a dangerous 5,000-mile escape from Venezuela.
Daughter accepts the award
Machado’s daughter, Ana Corina Sosa Machado, accepted the Nobel on her behalf Wednesday, praising her mother’s “tireless work promoting democratic rights for the people of Venezuela and for her struggle to achieve a just and peaceful transition from dictatorship to democracy.”
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Machado had been in hiding since January after taking part in a protest in Caracas. CBS News reported that Venezuela’s attorney general warned she would be considered a fugitive if she left the country to attend the ceremony.
In an audio message posted on the Nobel website before she resurfaced, Machado said she would not make it in time but vowed she was on her way — noting that “people risked their lives” to help her travel.
A high-risk escape from Venezuela
New reporting from The Wall Street Journal details the extraordinary, clandestine journey Machado undertook to reach safety.
Wearing a wig and disguise, Machado slipped out of Venezuela by boat on Monday with two people assisting her. They reportedly navigated past 10 military checkpoints to reach open waters — the same region where U.S. forces carried out more than 20 strikes on suspected drug-smuggling vessels in recent months.
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María Corina Machado dedicated her Nobel Peace Prize to the Venezuelan people and President Donald Trump, thanking him for supporting her cause.
Those coordinating Machado’s escape told the Journal they informed the U.S. military of her exact route.
“We coordinated that she was going to leave by a specific area so that they would not blow up the boat,” a person close to the operation said.
Machado arrived in Curaçao on Tuesday and spent the night there before boarding a private jet operated by a Miami-based contractor known for discreet rescue flights. From there, she traveled on to Europe and the Nobel events.
What comes next
Machado is expected to remain in Norway briefly, reunite with her three children — all of whom live outside Venezuela for their own safety — and then visit European countries before traveling to the United States.
Her daughter told supporters in Oslo that Machado will return to Venezuela “very soon.”
Troubling reaction from Caracas
Venezuela’s government sharply rejected the international praise for Machado. Vice President Delcy Rodriguez mocked the Nobel ceremony and dismissed Machado’s absence from the event before her surprise arrival.
“The show failed. The lady didn’t show up,” Rodriguez said. “Those extremist, fascist lackeys who have been asking for blockades, invasions and bombings against Venezuela are going to be defeated again, the same way their cheap show in Norway fell apart.”
