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Since January 9, Machado has remained out of sight, living in seclusion following her brief detention during a protest with supporters in Venezuela.
WASHINGTON — In a poignant moment on Wednesday, María Corina Machado’s daughter stood in her place to accept the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo, mere hours after it was confirmed that the Venezuelan opposition figure would be unable to attend the ceremony.
Avoiding public appearances since her detainment in the Venezuelan capital, Caracas, on January 9, Machado has taken refuge to ensure her safety.
During the award proceedings, Jørgen Watne Frydnes, chair of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, shared that, “María Corina Machado has made every conceivable effort to be present here today — a journey fraught with immense peril.”
Although she could not attend the event, Frydnes reassured the audience, saying, “We take great solace in knowing she is safe, and eagerly anticipate her presence here in Oslo,” prompting a warm round of applause.
The director of the Norwegian Nobel institute and Machado’s spokesperson said earlier Wednesday that she wouldn’t be able to attend the ceremony. Her daughter Ana Corina Sosa did instead.
María Corina Machado said in an audio recording of a phone call published on the Nobel website that many people had “risked their lives” for her to arrive in Oslo.
“I am very grateful to them, and this is a measure of what this recognition means to the Venezuelan people,” she said before indicating she was about to board a plane.
“I know that there are hundreds of Venezuelans from different parts of the world that were able to reach your city that are right now in Oslo, family, my team, so many colleagues,” Machado added.
“And since this is a prize for all Venezuelans, I believe that it will be received by them. And as soon as I arrive, I will be able to embrace all my family and my children that I’ve have not seen for two years and so many Venezuelans, Norwegians that I know that share our struggle and our fight.”
Latin American leaders present in solidarity
Prominent Latin American figures attended Wednesday in a signal of solidarity with Machado, including Argentine President Javier Milei, Ecuador’s President Daniel Noboa, Panama’s President José Raúl Mulino and Paraguayan President Santiago Peña.
The 58-year-old’s win for her struggle to achieve a democratic transition in her South American nation was announced on Oct. 10, and she was described as a woman “who keeps the flame of democracy burning amid a growing darkness.”
Machado won an opposition primary election and intended to challenge President Nicolás Maduro in last year’s presidential election, but the government barred her from running for office. Retired diplomat Edmundo González took her place.
The lead-up to the July 28, 2024, election saw widespread repression, including disqualifications, arrests and human rights violations. That increased after the country’s National Electoral Council, which is stacked with Maduro loyalists, declared the incumbent the winner.
González, who sought asylum in Spain last year after a Venezuelan court issued a warrant for his arrest, attended Wednesday’s ceremony, which was overlooked by a large portrait of Machado.
U.N. human rights officials and many independent rights groups have expressed concerns about the situation in Venezuela, and called for Maduro to be held accountable for the crackdown on dissent.
Some previous winners have been unable to attend
Five past Nobel Peace Prize laureates were detained or imprisoned at the time of the award, according to the prize’s official website, most recently Iranian activist Narges Mohammadi in 2023 and Belarusian human rights advocate 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.
Gustavo Tovar-Arroyo, a Venezuelan human rights activist who was forced to flee into exile in 2012, said Machado’s supporters “did the best for her to be here as she deserves. But we knew the risk.”
He added that they are “disappointed that she cannot be in the ceremony, but this is part of what we do when we fight against a dictatorship, a tyranny or a criminal regime. So we are used to it.”
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