Venezuelan opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize laureate María Corina Machado left Venezuela by boat bound for Curaçao, according to US officials. The decision to keep the details of the trip secret was due to the need to protect her safety, a measure coordinated by her closest allies.
According to US officials, Machado's transfer took place on Tuesday, avoiding any prior announcement that could jeopardize her safety. The operation was carefully planned, and information about her departure was only released once she was outside Venezuelan territory.
María Corina Machado's entourage chose not to make the trip public until it was completed, prioritizing the protection of the opposition leader against possible threats.
The Venezuelan opposition leader confirmed that she is on her way to Oslo.
In a telephone conversation with Jørgen Watne Frydnes, president of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, Machado said: “Well, in person, I’ll tell you what we had to go through, and so many people who risked their lives so that I could get to Oslo. And I’m very grateful to them, and this is a demonstration of what this recognition means to the Venezuelan people. I want you to know that. So let’s get started because I have to fly right now. I have to get on the plane.”
She continued: “Dear Jørgen, first of all, on behalf of the Venezuelan people, I want to thank the Norwegian Nobel Committee once again for this immense recognition of our people’s struggle for democracy and freedom. We are very moved and honored, and that is why I am so saddened to inform you that I will not be able to arrive in time for the ceremony. But I will be in Oslo, on my way to Oslo right now,” the opposition leader confirmed.
The awarding of the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize to María Corina Machado was received by her daughter Ana Corina Sosa Machado in Oslo, as travel times did not coincide for the opposition leader to arrive in time for the ceremony.
Machado sent a speech that was read by his daughter, in which he placed the story within the collective journey of his country.
“I have come to tell you a story, the story of a people and their long march towards freedom. That march brings me here today, as one voice among millions of Venezuelans who have risen up once again to claim the destiny that has always belonged to them,” María Corina Machado stated in her remarks.
The opposition leader reconstructed Venezuelan identity based on its history and the diversity of its roots.
“Venezuela was born of audacity, shaped by a fusion of peoples and cultures. From Spain we inherited a language, a faith and a culture that became intertwined with our ancestral indigenous and African roots,” Machado recalled, underscoring the foundational character of the first republican constitution in the Hispanic world in 1811.
“There we affirmed a radical idea: that every human being possesses sovereign dignity. That constitution enshrined citizenship, individual rights, religious freedom, and the separation of powers,” he said.
For his part, Watne Frydnes accused a network of authoritarian regimes and allied groups—including Cuba, Russia, Iran, China, and Hezbollah—of providing the Venezuelan regime of Nicolás Maduro with the means to strengthen its apparatus of control and repression.
Frydnes highlighted how autocratic regimes are learning from each other and sharing tools of coercion.
“Authoritarian regimes learn from each other. They share technologies and propaganda systems,” Frydnes stated in his speech at Oslo City Hall.
“Behind Maduro are Cuba, Russia, Iran, China, and Hezbollah, which provide weapons, surveillance systems, and means of economic survival. They make the regime more robust and more brutal,” Frydnes declared to the attendees.
The statement was part of a speech in which Frydnes condemned the situation in Venezuela, calling it a “brutal and authoritarian” state mired in a deep humanitarian and economic crisis. The Committee documented a long list of abuses and human rights violations, including cases of systematic torture and the detention of more than 200 minors after the 2024 elections.
Frydnes lamented that the international community often turned its back on Venezuelans struggling for democracy. He noted that some observers clung to “old narratives” by viewing Venezuela as a fight against imperialism or as a competition between superpowers, committing a “moral betrayal of those who actually live under this brutal regime.”
The chairman of the Nobel Committee directly urged President Maduro to “accept the election results and resign from his post,” thus laying the groundwork for a “peaceful transition to democracy.” This appeal was met with prolonged applause from the dignitaries and world leaders present, including King Harald V and Queen Sonja of Norway, opposition leader Edmundo González, and the presidents of Argentina, Javier Milei; Panama, José Raúl Mulino; and Paraguay, Santiago Peña.
