OSLO: Nobel officials cancelled a press conference with Peace Prize laureate Maria Corina Machado in Oslo on Tuesday, as it was unclear where the Venezuelan opposition leader was and whether she would collect her award in person on Wednesday (today).
Machado was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize on October 10 for her efforts to bring democracy to Venezuela, challenging the iron-fisted rule of Nicolas Maduro, who has been president since 2013.
Originally scheduled for 1pm (1200 GMT), the press conference with the 58-year-old, who went into hiding in her country in August 2024, was first postponed before finally being cancelled. “Maria Corina Machado herself said how difficult it was to come to Norway.
We hope she will attend the Nobel Prize award ceremony” on Wednesday, institute spokesman Erik Aasheim said. Following speculation about her whereabouts over the last few days, reporters were anticipating her first public appearance in 11 months.
Machado was last seen in public at a demonstration in Caracas on January 9, protesting against Maduro’s inauguration for his third term.
Machado has accused Maduro of stealing the July 2024 election she was banned from standing in, a claim backed by much of the international community.
Venezuela’s attorney general, Tarek William Saab, said last month the opposition leader would be considered a “fugitive” if she travelled to Norway to accept the prize. “By being outside Venezuela and having numerous criminal investigations, she is considered a fugitive,” Saab said, adding that she is accused of “acts of conspiracy, incitement of hatred, terrorism”.
Venezuelan Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello said that he did not know if she would travel to Oslo.
A trip to Oslo would raise thorny questions over her possible return to Venezuela or her ability to lead the Venezuelan opposition from exile.
Michael Shifter, associate professor at Georgetown University, said that “under any scenario — whether Machado can or can’t return to Venezuela — it will be very difficult to sustain momentum for the movement she inspired absent any progress in moving towards political change”. “To be sure, it will be hard for Machado to lead the opposition in exile.
But it will not be easy for her to do so even based in the country (when) most Venezuelans are facing dire economic and humanitarian conditions and increased repression by the Maduro regime,” he said. But her former campaign manager, Magalli Meda, said Tuesday there was “no chance that Maria Corina will not return and stay in exile”.
Published in Dawn, December 10th, 2025