The government of Paraguay announced this week that President Santiago Peña will travel to Norway to accompany Machado to receive the Nobel Peace Prize 2025, as will the presidents of Panama, José Raúl Mulino, and Ecuador, Daniel Noboa. Machado was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize 2025 "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," the Norwegian Nobel Committee announced on October 10. The Norwegian Nobel Committee declared on November 14 that Machado has made it clear that she will travel to Oslo to receive the prize. However, the head of the Nobel Committee, Jørgen Watne Frydnes, considered in an interview with the public channel NRK that it is "a dangerous trip because the Venezuelan regime has expressed its desire to get rid of her," and said he hopes that the opposition leader's security will be guaranteed so that she can reach Norway and also return to the country. The Norwegian Nobel Institute, which assists the committee that awards the Nobel Peace Prize, stated this Saturday that the awarded Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado will attend the award ceremony in person on December 10 in Oslo, as she herself has assured them. The Venezuelan opposition leader Edmundo González Urrutia, exiled in Spain, who faced Nicolás Maduro in the July 2024 elections, is also expected to attend. The representative highlighted that the institution could not provide any other details about Machado's trip, who lives in hiding in Venezuela, or about the timing of her arrival, for security reasons. "We spoke with her last night and she told us she will be in Oslo," said Erik Aasheim, head of communications at the Nobel Institute, to EFE. Machado stated in October to the Norwegian newspaper 'Dagens Næringsliv' that to travel to this Nordic country, Venezuela had to be "free" and said that as long as Nicolás Maduro is in power, she cannot leave the place where she is for security reasons. "I cannot leave the place where I am hiding because there are direct threats to my life," she stated.
Paraguayan President to Accompany Machado to Nobel Peace Prize Ceremony in Norway
The Paraguayan government announced that President Santiago Peña will travel to Norway to accompany Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado to the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony. The Norwegian Nobel Committee confirmed that Machado will personally attend the event in Oslo on December 10, despite security concerns due to threats from the Venezuelan regime.
