Nobel Prize winner María Corina Machado makes her public appearance in Norway, her first in 11 months

Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado appeared in public for the first time in 11 months early Thursday local time when she greeted supporters at a hotel in Norway’s capital. after his daughter accepted the nobel peace prize in your name.

Machado had been in hiding since Jan. 9, when she was briefly detained after joining her supporters at a protest in Caracas, Venezuela’s capital. She was expected to attend the awards ceremony on Wednesday in Oslo, where heads of state and her family were among those hoping to see her.

Machado said in an audio recording of a phone call posted on the Nobel website that she would not be able to make it to the ceremony in time but that many people had “risked their lives” for her to arrive in Oslo.

His daughter, Ana Corina Sosa, accepted the award in his place.

“She wants to live in a free Venezuela and will never give up that goal,” Sosa said. “That’s why we all know, and I know, that she will be back in Venezuela very soon.”

Jørgen Watne Frydnes, president of the Norwegian Nobel committee, said at the award ceremony that “Maria Corina Machado has done everything in her power to be able to attend the ceremony here today: a journey in a situation of extreme danger.”

“Although he will not be able to attend this ceremony or today’s events, we are deeply happy to confirm that he is safe and will be with us here in Oslo,” he said to applause.

Machado said in an audio recording of a phone call posted on the Nobel website that she would not be able to make it to the ceremony in time but that many people had “risked their lives” for her to arrive in Oslo.

in a Zoom interview with News themezone Just hours after receiving the honor in October, the woman known as Venezuela’s “Iron Lady” said it served as a message to Venezuelans that “they were not alone.”

“The world recognizes this enormous and epic struggle,” Machado said.

attorney general of venezuela told Agence France-Presse last month that Machado would be considered a “fugitive” if she left Venezuela to accept the honor.

Machado received the Nobel Prize for “his tireless work promoting the democratic rights of the people of Venezuela and for his fight to achieve a just and peaceful transition from dictatorship to democracy.”