Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado will miss the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony in Oslo

Oslo, Norway — Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado will miss the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony in Oslo on Wednesday, the director of the Norwegian Nobel Institute said.

Machado last appeared in public 11 months ago. Nobel Institute director Kristian Berg Harpviken told public broadcaster NRK that the Venezuelan opposition leader was not in the Norwegian capital on the day of the ceremony and that her daughter will accept the prize on Machado’s behalf.

“We confirm that he will not attend the Nobel ceremony, but we are optimistic about his presence in the rest of the day’s agenda,” said Machado’s spokeswoman, Claudia Macero. He did not provide information about Machado’s current location.

Harpviken he said just four days ago that Machado confirmed that he would attend the ceremony, although he said at the time that “given the security situation, we cannot say more about the date or how it will arrive.”

Prominent Latin American figures were scheduled to attend Wednesday’s ceremony in a sign of solidarity with Machado, including Argentine President Javier Milei, Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa, Panamanian President José Raúl Mulino and Paraguayan President Santiago Peña.

Machado has been living in hiding and has not been seen in public since January 9, when she was briefly detained after joining her supporters at a protest in Caracas, Venezuela’s capital.

The 58-year-old’s victory for her fight to achieve a democratic transition in her South American nation was announced on October 10 and she was described as a woman “keeping the flame of democracy burning in the midst of growing darkness.”

Machado won an opposition primary election and had intended to challenge President Nicolás Maduro in last year’s presidential election, but the government banned him from running for office. Retired diplomat Edmundo González took his place in his place.

In the run-up to the July 28, 2024 elections, widespread repression occurred, including disqualifications, arrests, and human rights violations. That increased after the country’s National Electoral Council, which is packed with Maduro loyalists, declared the incumbent the winner.

González sought asylum in Spain last year after a Venezuelan court issued an arrest warrant against him.

UN human rights officials and many independent human rights groups have expressed concern about the situation in Venezuela and have called for Maduro to be held accountable for his crackdown on dissent.

Five previous Nobel Peace Prize laureates were arrested or imprisoned at the time of the award, according to the prize’s official website; the most recent the Iranian activist Narges Mohammadi in 2023 and the Belarusian human rights defender Ales Bialiatski in 2022.

The others were Liu Xiaobo of China in 2010, Aung San Suu Kyi of Myanmar in 1991 and Carl von Ossietzky of Germany in 1935.

“There is a long tradition that when a Peace Prize winner cannot be present, his close family members represent him,” Harpviken said. “That happened with Narges Mohammadi and Ales Bialiatski; both were imprisoned at the time. And the same thing will happen today with María Corina Machado. The daughter will deliver the statement that her mother has written.”