Nobel Peace Prize winner and leader of the Venezuelan opposition, María Corina Machado, appeared on the balcony of the Grand Hotel in Oslo this Thursday (11), local time, after secretly fleeing her country.
This is the opponent’s first public appearance in 11 months.
She emerged from her hotel balcony to applause, as the crowd sang the Venezuelan national anthem. María Corina waved to her supporters before going out to greet them in the street.
The opposition leader arrived in Oslo in the middle of the night, the head of the Nobel committee said, after failing to reach the Norwegian capital in time to receive her award at a ceremony held hours earlier.
It was risky. Persecuted by the government of President Nicolás Maduro, she is banned from leaving Venezuela and has been living practically in hiding for the last year.
On Wednesday (10), María Corina’s daughter accepted the Nobel Peace Prize on her mother’s behalf, in Oslo.
The 58-year-old engineer had secretly left Venezuela, defying a decade-old travel ban imposed by authorities in her home country, and after spending more than a year in hiding.
