Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado will not attend Wednesday’s Nobel Peace Prize ceremony because she is in hiding, organizers said.
His daughter will accept the award on his behalf, as Machado’s whereabouts are unknown.
Why is Machado not attending the Nobel Prize ceremony?
Machado has appeared in public only once since going underground during a tense standoff with President Nicolas Maduro in August last year.
Venezuela’s attorney general warned that the 58-year-old would be considered a fugitive if she left the country to receive her award.
Uncertainty remained over Machado’s plans hours before the ceremony scheduled for 1 p.m. CET (1200 GMT).
Machado won the opposition primary in 2024 and intended to challenge Maduro, but the government barred him from running for office. Edmundo González Urrutia became the opposition candidate after Machado was disqualified from the race. Machado said that Maduro stole the election from Urrutia.
Machado has not appeared in public for 11 months and was last seen during a protest against Maduro in the Venezuelan capital Caracas. Since October, when the award was announced, it was unclear whether she would be able to travel to Norway.
Why was Machado awarded the Nobel Peace Prize?
Machado received this year’s award for his efforts toward a “just and peaceful transition from dictatorship to democracy” in Venezuela.
She went into hiding after the elections, which gave Maduro a third term – the results of which were not recognized by the United States, the European Union, or many Latin American governments.
The Nobel Institute said over the weekend that Machado would receive the award in person – which includes a gold medal, diploma and $1.2 million (€1 million) – and had scheduled a press conference and media interviews, which were later cancelled.
Exiled Venezuelans, including Urrutia, and the presidents of Argentina, Panama, Ecuador and Paraguay had already arrived in Oslo for the ceremony.
Edited by: Louis Olofse