CARACAS, Venezuela – The daughter of prominent Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado accepted the Nobel Peace Prize on Wednesday on behalf of her mother,
after she was unable to arrive in Oslo in time for the ceremony.
Machado was en route to the Norwegian capital and was expected
to arrive on Thursday morning, according to Nobel Institute officials.
Machado… and deep sorrow
In a letter addressed to the chairman of the Nobel Committee just minutes
before the ceremony began, Machado expressed
She expressed “deep sadness and profound regret” for not being able to arrive on time.
At the same time, she affirmed that she is “doing everything she can to reach her goal.”
She added in her message that she left Venezuela after “many risked their lives”,
This was to ensure her safe passage. During the ceremony,
The head of the Norwegian committee, Jørgen Watne Fredness,
explicitly called on Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro to step down.
And accepting the results of the elections held last year, the credibility of
which was challenged by the opposition.
Resistance to dictatorship in Venezuela
Addressing Maduro, he said: “Mr. Maduro, accept the will of the people and step down.”
He added that the Venezuelan opposition “lit a flame that neither torture,
nor fear, nor lies can extinguish.”
This was met with enthusiastic applause from those present.
The director of the Nobel Institute confirmed that Machado would arrive
in Oslo before Thursday morning, but would not be able to attend the ceremony herself.
Venezuelan courts had barred her last year from running
against Maduro in the 2024 elections.
This prompted her to live in hiding within the country.
Machado, 58, who has been kept out of the public eye, won the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize.
This is in recognition of her role in “resisting dictatorship” in Venezuela.
She is the first Venezuelan to receive this award, and the sixth in Latin America.
Her victory came despite repeated statements by US President Donald Trump.
This has been the case over the past few months,
with him being the “most deserving” of the award,
in positions that have sparked widespread controversy.
