Norway Nobel Prize winner Machado honored in absentia
The Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado has been awarded this year's Nobel Peace Prize in absentia.
10.12.2025, 14:59
SDA
In front of the Norwegian royal family and several South American heads of state such as Argentina's Javier Milei, her daughter Ana Corina Sosa Machado accepted the prestigious Nobel Medal and an accompanying diploma on her behalf at a festive award ceremony at Oslo City Hall. Afterwards, she also read out the Nobel speech that her mother had written for the occasion.
"This prize has a profound meaning: it reminds the world that democracy is essential for peace," Machado emphasized in the speech. The lesson of Venezuela's long and difficult journey is that if you want democracy, you have to be prepared to fight for freedom.
"For this reason, Venezuela's cause goes beyond our borders," Machado's daughter said on behalf of her mother. "A people that chooses freedom not only makes a contribution to itself, but to humanity."
From dictatorship to democracy
The Norwegian Nobel Committee announced in October that Machado would be honored with the Nobel Peace Prize this year. The committee awarded the prize to the 58-year-old "for her tireless commitment to the democratic rights of the Venezuelan people and for her fight for a just and peaceful transition from dictatorship to democracy".
Machado then dedicated the award to the suffering people of Venezuela and to US President Donald Trump for his support of the Venezuelan opposition. It was Trump himself who had put himself in the running for the Nobel Prize before the announcement.
Disappeared some time ago
Machado, who lives in a secret location for security reasons, is regarded as the unifying force of the opposition in Venezuela and a staunch opponent of President Nicolás Maduro, who has ruled in an authoritarian manner since 2013. She had sought to run for president in her country in 2023, but was excluded from the election the following year due to alleged irregularities. Critics accuse Maduro of systematic election manipulation.
"Mr. Maduro, accept the election results and resign," demanded the chairman of the Nobel Committee, Jørgen Watne Frydnes, to loud applause in the hall at the ceremony. "Create the basis for a peaceful transition to democracy, because that is the will of the Venezuelan people."
It had remained uncertain until the very end whether Machado would be able to come to Oslo for the Nobel Prize ceremony. In the morning, the Nobel Institute finally announced that she would not be attending the award ceremony.
The fact that she herself had expected to attend was also reflected in her speech. "I have come here to tell you a story: the story of a people and their long march towards freedom," reads the beginning of the speech manuscript, which was read out by her daughter Ana.
Showdown with Maduro?
According to the Nobel Institute, Machado was nevertheless expected to arrive in Oslo at a later date, presumably on Wednesday. She was currently on her way there, she said in an interview that was published on the official Nobel Prize account on the X platform just before the award ceremony began.
In it, Machado emphasized that upon arrival she would be able to hug her entire family and her children, whom she had not seen for two years. Her daughter said at the ceremony: "I must say that my mother never breaks a promise. That's why I can tell you with all the joy in my heart that we will finally be able to embrace her again here in Oslo in a few hours." She promised her compatriots that her mother would soon be back in Venezuela.
By traveling to Oslo, however, the 58-year-old risks serious consequences on her return home: the Venezuelan public prosecutor's office had threatened to consider Machado a fugitive due to various investigations against her if she left the country.
She could potentially be arrested or banned from entering the country, which in turn could have far-reaching consequences for the opposition. The risks to Machado's personal safety are also immense. "The regime has been very clear. Maduro has said that they will kill me if they catch me," Machado recently said in a video interview with Norwegian broadcaster NRK.
Another Nobel Prize ceremony in Stockholm
The Nobel Peace Prize is always awarded on December 10, the anniversary of the death of dynamite inventor and prize donor Alfred Nobel (1833-1896), at a ceremony in Oslo City Hall. Later in the afternoon, all other Nobel Prize winners in the other categories of medicine, physics, chemistry, literature and economics are traditionally honored in Stockholm.
This year, the prizes are endowed with eleven million Swedish kronor per category. This corresponds to around 950,000 Swiss francs.
