Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado will not attend the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony in Oslo on Wednesday, December 11, with the Norwegian Nobel Institute confirming that her whereabouts remain unknown.
The award ceremony at Oslo City Hall will go ahead as scheduled, with her daughter stepping in to receive the honour on her behalf.
Whereabouts unknown as Oslo ceremony proceeds
Kristian Berg Harpviken, director of the Norwegian Nobel Institute and secretary of the Nobel Committee, said Machado was not in Norway and would not be present when the ceremony begins at 1:00 pm local time. Speaking to broadcaster NRK, Harpviken said he did not know where she was currently located.
Machado, 58, had been expected to travel to Oslo despite a decade-long ban imposed by Venezuelan authorities and more than a year spent in hiding. The ceremony will be attended by King Harald and Queen Sonja of Norway, along with several Latin American leaders including Argentine President Javier Milei and Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa.
In cases where a laureate cannot attend, a close family member usually receives the prize. Harpviken confirmed that Machado’s daughter, Ana Corina Sosa Machado, will accept the award and deliver the Nobel lecture in her place.
Her political fallout
When the Nobel Peace Prize was announced in October, Machado dedicated the award in part to US President Donald Trump, who has previously said he deserved the honour himself. Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has accused Trump of attempting to overthrow his government to gain access to the country’s oil reserves, an allegation rejected by the United States.
Machado has aligned herself with figures close to Trump who argue that Maduro maintains links to criminal gangs threatening US national security, despite doubts raised by the US intelligence community. The Trump administration has ordered more than 20 military strikes in recent months against alleged drug trafficking vessels in the Caribbean and the Pacific, moves condemned by human rights groups and several Latin American governments.
Machado was barred from running in Venezuela’s 2024 presidential election despite winning the opposition primary by a landslide and went into hiding after a wave of post-election arrests. The opposition disputes Maduro’s declared victory. Christopher Sabatini of Chatham House told Reuters the Nobel Prize offered “a strong signal of international validation” of the opposition’s claimed election result.
