A mixture of enormous anticipation, excitement, and a touch of disbelief has gripped frigid Oslo in recent hours. Isabel seeks refuge from the cold as she proudly walks through the streets of the Norwegian capital, carrying the Venezuelan flag. She has just arrived from Stockholm to witness what she considers a historic moment for her country: the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to opposition leader María Corina Machado. “I feel as if I won it myself,” says the 54-year-old, who asks that her last name be omitted for fear of reprisals against her family members who remain in Venezuela. “This prize has given me back the hope that the situation can improve, that we will be free again,” adds Josefina, 46, who traveled with her from Sweden, as they both count down the minutes until the official ceremony on Wednesday.
The possibility that Machado might also travel to Norway to accept the prize in person has generated enormous anticipation both inside and outside Venezuela. The mystery continued throughout Tuesday, when the 58-year-old opposition leader was scheduled to participate in a press conference at the Nobel Institute, which was postponed and then definitively canceled by the organizers.
“At this point, we cannot give any information about when or how she will arrive at the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony,” Erik Aasheim, spokesperson for the Norwegian Nobel Peace Institute, told the media accredited to cover the event. It was to be the first official activity in a long list of protocol events and was supposed to be Machado's first public appearance since she decided to continue her political struggle from hiding last August. “We are waiting to see what happens; nobody knows anything,” Isabel remarked with an air of mystery and her undiminished hope of seeing the opposition leader in person.
The Nobel Prize has focused the world's attention on Machado and the political crisis in Venezuela. The Norwegian Nobel Committee's decision to award her the prize came as a surprise, even to her and her most loyal supporters. After months of pressure from Donald Trump, who actively campaigned for the award since his return to the White House last January, and after receiving 338 different nominations, the organizers chose as this year's winner the most troublesome figure for the government of Nicolás Maduro and the most visible face of a persecuted, fragmented opposition forced into exile.
The announcement came on October 10, at a time of heightened tension between the United States and Venezuela, spurred by an unprecedented military deployment off the Venezuelan coast. It also came almost a year after the last presidential elections, in which Maduro declared himself the winner, despite international condemnation, accusations of fraud, and evidence gathered by the opposition that Edmundo González, the candidate Machado supported after the regime barred him from running, had won by a wide margin.
The Norwegian Nobel Committee could have avoided the controversy, but instead chose Machado for “her tireless work in promoting the democratic rights of the Venezuelan people and for her struggle to achieve a just and peaceful transition from dictatorship to democracy.” This year’s Nobel Prize recognizes a career spanning more than two decades of fighting repression, awarded to a political leader who has had to live in hiding for speaking out in a country where doing so has become a crime.
But it is also a recognition of the collective suffering of the Venezuelan dissidents. For those who have been silenced. For hundreds of political prisoners. For more than eight million who have had to flee the country, driven by hunger, need, or persecution. “The Nobel Prize is ours.” The slogan championed by the opposition leader in recent weeks is also the battle cry of those who have gathered in Oslo. “It’s a sign that the world sees us, that they are finally listening to us,” says Sonia Zapata, a Venezuelan who has lived in Norway for 20 years.
The figure of Machado divides opinions. For Chavismo, which has engaged in open confrontation with the opposition leader for over two decades, she embodies the conspiracies of the extreme right, the hypocrisy of capitalism, and subservience to the United States. For her supporters, she is the symbol that another Venezuela is possible, the example that resistance is worthwhile, and also the leader willing to make any sacrifice to move the country forward. There are no middle grounds in the Venezuelan political context.
Outside of the South American country, some of Machado's convictions and political alliances have also drawn criticism."I dedicate this award to the long-suffering people of Venezuela and to President Trump for his unwavering support of our cause," she wrote on her Twitter account upon learning she would receive the recognition.
The Venezuelan leader has also publicly supported the possibility of international intervention to end the Maduro regime and has endorsed the hardline measures and sanctions promoted by the United States to deepen the diplomatic isolation of the Chavista government. Her detractors have questioned whether her ideas align with the values of peace promoted by the Nobel Peace Prize. Her supporters argue that ending a dictatorship requires exceptional measures and that Trump's support has been crucial at a time when international pressure has been at a low point. And the threat of a US military operation is another of the unknowns looming on the horizon of this year's Nobel Prize ceremony.
“Freedom must be won, and facing a tyranny of this kind requires moral, spiritual, and physical strength,” she asserted in an interview with EL PAÍS a few hours after being announced as the winner. “Maduro decides whether to take it or leave it, but he will leave with or without negotiations,” she added.
All of Machado's decisions have been subject to scrutiny, especially since the award was announced two months ago. For example, the inclusion of Argentina's ultraconservative president, Javier Milei, and other right-wing Latin American leaders, such as Ecuador's Daniel Noboa and Paraguay's Santiago Peña, as guests of honor has been criticized. Milei arrived in Oslo on Tuesday, while Panama's leader, José Raúl Mulino, arrived on Monday.
The Norwegian Nobel Committee defended its decision, arguing that it recognizes the struggle for democracy, regardless of ideological differences. The Nobel Peace Center, another key organization involved in the preparations, summarized it this way: “The global political divide of our time is not left versus right, but democracy versus dictatorship.” In some media outlets in the Scandinavian country, where the Venezuelan context is perceived as a distant reality, the award has been described as a response to the so-called spirit of the times, a vindication of democracy in times of war, personalistic leadership, constant threats, and accumulated signs of democratic erosion in the West.
Nevertheless, this recognition is a breath of fresh air for the Venezuelan opposition, which has suffered years of systematic repression under Chavismo and still grapples with internal divisions. And given the uncertain outcome of Trump's escalation in the Caribbean, all defenders of Venezuelan democracy received a new boost from Oslo on Wednesday.
