By: The Trek News Desk
Venezuelan opposition figure María Corina Machado is scheduled to receive the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo on Wednesday, despite living under a 10-year travel ban in her home country and spending more than a year in hiding. For now, her location remains unknown, raising serious uncertainty about whether she will appear at the ceremony at all.
Dedicated Part of Her Award to Trump
When her Nobel win was announced in October, Machado dedicated part of the honour to U.S. President Donald Trump, who himself has repeatedly argued that he deserves the prize.
Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, who has ruled since 2013, claims Trump is attempting to topple him to gain access to Venezuela’s vast oil reserves. Maduro insists that both the Venezuelan people and the military would resist any foreign attempt to unseat him.
A Prestigious Ceremony – But an Absent Laureate?
The 58-year-old activist is set to be honoured inside Oslo City Hall, in the presence of Norway’s King Harald, Queen Sonja, and several Latin American leaders, including Argentina’s President Javier Milei and Ecuador’s President Daniel Noboa.
The event begins at 1 p.m. local time (1200 GMT).
Even if Machado fails to reach Oslo, the ceremony will proceed as planned. According to Nobel tradition, a close family member may accept the award and deliver the Nobel lecture on her behalf.
Machado was also absent from a scheduled press briefing on Tuesday. The Norwegian Nobel Institute said it could not confirm “when or how she will arrive for the ceremony.”
Kristian Berg Harpviken, the institute’s director and secretary to the Nobel Committee, remarked, “I know she wants to come and that she is en route, but that’s all we know.”
He added that the ceremony would still aim to spotlight Venezuela’s political crisis and the crucial connection between democracy and peace.
Ties to Trump-Aligned Hardliners
Machado has aligned herself with hardline Trump-aligned advisers who argue that Maduro is linked to criminal networks posing a threat to U.S. national security, claims that segments of the U.S. intelligence community have questioned.
Trump’s administration has conducted more than 20 military strikes in recent months, targeting alleged drug-trafficking operations in the Caribbean and along the Pacific coast of Latin America.
Human rights groups, Democratic lawmakers, and several Latin American governments have condemned these strikes as extrajudicial killings of civilians.
According to internal planning documents and sources familiar with the situation, Venezuela’s armed forces are preparing guerrilla-style resistance strategies should the U.S. launch any air or ground assault.
Disputed Election and the Symbolism of the Prize
Machado was barred from contesting the 2024 presidential election, despite winning the opposition primary by a landslide. As arrests of opposition figures intensified after the disputed vote, she went underground in August 2024.
While the electoral authority and the Supreme Court declared Maduro the winner, opposition groups and international observers maintain that Machado secured a clear victory. The opposition has released detailed ballot-box data to support its claim.
According to Christopher Sabatini, a Latin America expert at Chatham House, the Nobel Peace Prize serves as “international validation of a democratic mandate that had been ignored.”
He said the award has elevated Machado into “a figure the global community can rally behind,” adding that democratic movements often need a recognisable face and a compelling narrative.
Source: News Agencies
