Nobel Peace Prize winner will not attend the award ceremony - but will be in Oslo

This year's Nobel Peace Prize winner María Corina Machado from Venezuela is expected to arrive in Norway despite threats from her country's authoritarian leadership. Although she will not make it to the actual award ceremony, she will come to Oslo, as the Norwegian Nobel Institute announced, without giving an exact time of arrival.

In doing so, the 58-year-old risks serious consequences that could await her on her return to her home country.

"Nobel Peace Prize laureate María Corina Machado has done everything in her power to come to today's ceremony," the Institute announced shortly before the award ceremony, which began at 13:00. It was a journey that involved extreme danger in view of her situation. "Although she will not be able to make it to the ceremony and today's events, we are extremely happy to confirm that she is safe and will be with us in Oslo."

María Machado receives Nobel Peace Prize

Who is the woman who outdoes Trump?

Institute Director Kristian Berg Harpviken had announced on Norwegian radio this morning that Machado would not be attending the prize ceremony at Oslo City Hall. Instead, her daughter would receive the Nobel Prize and also give a speech that her mother had written. He did not know where Machado was.

"I'm very sad and very sorry that I won't be able to make it to the ceremony in time," Machado said in an interview published on the official Nobel Prize account on the X platform just before the award ceremony began. "But I will be in Oslo and I'm on my way there right now." She emphasized that she would be able to hug her entire family and her children, whom she had not seen for two years, upon arrival.

The Norwegian Nobel Committee announced in October that Machado, who lives in a secret location inside Venezuela, would be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize this year. The committee awarded her the prestigious prize "for her tireless work for the democratic rights of the Venezuelan people and for her struggle for a just and peaceful transition from dictatorship to democracy".

High personal risk

Machado is regarded as the unifying force of the opposition in Venezuela and a staunch opponent of President Nicolás Maduro, who has been in authoritarian rule 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.

Machado went into hiding some time ago out of concern for her safety within her country. The Nobel Committee had previously assumed that she would be able to come to Oslo for the award ceremony. She herself had affirmed that she would do everything in her power to be able to travel to the Norwegian capital for the greatest honor of her life.

"A historic mistake"

White House rages after Nobel Prize decision

However, 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 face arrest, an entry ban or worse if she were to return to Venezuela from Oslo.

"I have been accused of all kinds of crimes, including terrorism," Machado recently said in a video interview with Norwegian broadcaster NRK. "The regime has been very clear. Maduro has said that they will kill me if they catch me."

Prevented Nobel Prize winners an absolute exception

It is rare for Nobel Prize winners, who have been awarded since 1901, to be unable to receive their awards in person. Among the exceptions were five Nobel Peace Prize winners who were imprisoned in their home countries at the time of their award. The Soviet nuclear physicist and Nobel Peace Prize winner Andrei Sakharov was also banned by the state leadership from traveling to Oslo in 1975 - his wife accepted the prize on his behalf at the time.

The Nobel Peace Prize is traditionally presented at a ceremony in Oslo City Hall on December 10. On the same day, the anniversary of the death of dynamite inventor and prize donor Alfred Nobel (1833-1896), all other Nobel Prizes in the other categories of medicine, physics, chemistry, literature and economics are later presented in Stockholm. This year's prizes are endowed with eleven million Swedish kronor (around one million euros) per category.

More on the topic