The daughter of María Corina Machado, the winner of this year’s Nobel Peace Prize, has said her mother is determined to live in a free Venezuela and would “never give up on that purpose” as she accepted her mother’s award.
The Venezuelan opposition leader was “safe” and will travel to Oslo, the Nobel Institute said, but was unable to make the awards ceremony scheduled for 12:00 GMT on Wednesday.
Her daughter, Ana Corina Sosa, accepted the award on her mother’s behalf and delivered a lecture written by her at the ceremony in Oslo’s City Hall.
The Nobel Institute awarded Machado the prize for “her struggle to achieve a just and peaceful transition from dictatorship to democracy” in Venezuela.
The opposition leader’s daughter started off her speech by speaking of the personal impact of not being able to see her mother for two years.
Machado went into hiding shortly after Venezuela’s disputed presidential election in July 2024.
Her daughter told the audience: “And as I wait that moment to hug her, to kiss her, to embrace her, after two years, I think of the other daughters and sons who do not get to see their mothers.”
Sosa then gave a lecture that had been written by her mother, telling the audience that Venezuelans “will hug again. Fall in love again. Hear our streets fill with laughter and music.”
She added: “All the simple joys the world takes for granted will be ours.
“Because in the end, our journey towards freedom has always lived inside us. We are returning to ourselves. We are returning home.”
The audience in Oslo’s City Hall, which included members of Norway’s royal family, gave Sosa a long round of applause and a standing ovation.
There had been much speculation about whether Machado, who has been living in hiding, would be able to defy a travel ban to attend the ceremony in Norway’s capital.
In an audio recording shared by the Nobel Institute, Machado said “I will be in Oslo, I am on my way.”
However, the director of the Nobel Institute, Kristian Berg Harpviken, said that Machado was expected to arrive “sometime between this evening and tomorrow morning” – too late for the ceremony.
Earlier on Wednesday, the Nobel Institute had said they were in the dark about Machado’s whereabouts, triggering concern among her supporters.
Two of her children and her mother are in Oslo, hoping to be reunited with Machado after being separated.
The last time she was seen in public was on 9 January when she spoke to her supporters at a rally protesting against the swearing-in of Nicolás Maduro to a third term as president.
The elections were widely dismissed both by the opposition in Venezuela and on the international stage as rigged, and sparked protests across the country.
Around 2,000 people were arrested in the crackdown which followed, among them many members of Machado’s opposition coalition.
Machado, who had managed to unite the bitterly divided opposition ahead of the election, went into hiding for fear of arrest.
She continued to give interviews and uploaded videos onto social media urging her followers not to give up.
The announcement that she had been chosen as this year’s Nobel Peace Prize winner galvanised her supporters and triggered immediate speculation as to whether she would be able to travel to Oslo.
Total secrecy has surrounded her travel plans and it is not known how she managed to leave her place of hiding or by what means she has reached Europe.
By BBC News
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