Venezuelan Nobel Peace Prize winner and opposition leader in Venezuela, Maria Corina Machado, has arrived in Oslo, defying a decade-old travel ban imposed by the Maduro government.
She arrived hours after her daughter, accepted the prize on her behalf at the Wednesday ceremony, resurfacing in public life after more than 11 months of absence from office. According to officials, she secretly left the country by boat on Tuesday before taking a flight from Curaçao to Oslo.
The 58-year-old, a staunch rival of President Maduro, had spent more than a year in hiding following Maduro's disputed victory in last year’s elections.
Officials said that she first travelled by boat to the small US military base on the Caribbean island of Curaçao. The Nobel committee head, Joergen Watne Frydnes, said on Thursday, "I can confirm that Maria Corina Machado has arrived in Oslo.” He added that the Venezuelan opposition leader would meet her family before making an official public appearance on Friday.
At the ceremony, her daughter, Ana Corina Sosa Machado, said, “Our family would finally be able to live free after 16 months of hell." Even though Machado had secured victory in the opposition primary, she was barred from running in the 2024 presidential elections.
Election authorities in the country, along with the Supreme Court, had declared Maduro the winner of the Venezuelan elections. However, international observers believe that the opposition candidate, Edmundo Gonzalvez, won.
Meanwhile, Machado, despite her success and stature outside Venezuela, remains one of the most hated figures in Venezuelan politics and armed forces. She has even called for US strikes on Caracas to remove Maduro and force regime change, a move that millions of her countrymen don’t want. Machado remains a highly controversial figure in Venezuelan politics.
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