In the end, it was impossible: the Venezuelan opposition leader, , will not be in Oslo (Norway) today to collect this year’s Peace Prize, as confirmed this morning to Norwegian public television NRK by the director of the Nobel Institute, Kristian Berg Harpviken.
Already yesterday, the cancellation of the press conference that he had planned to give in the same city, on the eve of receiving the award, fueled speculation about whether he would attend the ceremony in person, when several Latin American leaders were already awaiting his eventual arrival. Now there is no hope.
The Nobel Institute initially postponed the appearance, scheduled for 1:00 p.m. yesterday (same time in Madrid), and canceled it definitively several hours later, pointing as the reason to the difficulties that Machado faced in leaving Venezuela, where his whereabouts are unknown.
“Maria Corina Machado herself has stated in interviews how complicated the trip to Oslo will be. Therefore, at this time we cannot provide more information about when and how she will arrive for the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony,” the organization reported in a brief statement.
Machado had confirmed a few days ago to the Nobel Institute that he would travel to the Norwegian capital to receive the prize, in what would be his first public appearance since last January. His family, closer to the moment, had also been optimistic.
Her sister, Clara Machado Parisca, said yesterday, however, in an interview from Oslo with the Colombian radio station Blu Radio that the Nobel Prize winner’s intention is “to be here with us,” although they were still waiting “with faith that she will arrive very soon.” There is no option anymore. His mother, Corina Parisca, and his daughter, Ana Corina Sosa, as well as two brothers, are also in the Norwegian capital.
And who picks it up then?
Now that it is known that Machado will not be able to be there, it is time to see what can be done. It is, of course, not the first time that a Nobel Peace Prize winner has not come to pick it up on the day of the award, as it has already happened on half a dozen occasions.
When the Chinese Liu Xiaobo, then imprisoned, won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2010, no one came to collect the prize: a photo of him was placed on the chair intended for him, and the Norwegian actress Liv Ullmann read the acceptance speech.
In 2022, the Belarusian Ales Bialiatski, one of the three Nobel laureates that year and who remained in prison, was represented by his wife, Natallia Pinchuk.
Apart from Machado’s children, several prominent figures of the Venezuelan opposition are in Oslo these days, including Edmundo González Urrutia, candidate in last year’s presidential elections and exiled in Spain since September 2024, who traveled to the Norwegian capital today.
Four Latin American presidents in Oslo
The president of Panama, José Raúl Mulino, and that of Argentina, Javier Milei, are also already there, invited by the winner, and the arrival of the president of Ecuador, Daniel Noboa, and tomorrow, that of his Paraguayan counterpart, Santiago Peña, are expected.
Mulino said this Tuesday from Oslo that the awarding of the Nobel Prize to Machado is “an enormous symbolism that the stars are aligning behind the freedom of Venezuela” while he hopes that “all this resonance” will have an impact “internally” so that it is understood that “there is only one route and that is the freedom” of that Caribbean country.
“Venezuela will be a great historical milestone of how a people with resistance, but tenacity and fight, free themselves from a tyrannical dictator (in reference to President Nicolás Maduro),” the Panamanian president told the press from the Norwegian capital.
The four presidents will be received tomorrow in audience by King Harald V after the handover ceremony, which begins at 1:00 p.m. (12 GMT), and will then meet separately with the Norwegian Prime Minister, Jonas Gahr Støre.
Protests by Norwegian organizations
Half a dozen Norwegian organizations called this Tuesday for a protest in front of the headquarters of the Nobel Institute against the election of Machado, which was attended by about two hundred people.
“Machado does not deserve the Nobel Peace Prize. The prize should go to someone who is in favor of peaceful dialogue and unites people,” said Kari Anne Næss, president of the Norwegian Peace Association, created in 1885 and the oldest organization of its kind in this Nordic country.
Two representatives of the Socialist Left Party and Red Party also participated in the rally, the fourth and sixth parliamentary forces, respectively, and allies of the minority Labor Executive that governs Norway.
Both parties have been against Machado’s selection for this year’s Nobel Prize. EFE
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