{"id":2348,"date":"2025-12-10T13:57:48","date_gmt":"2025-12-10T13:57:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/?p=2348"},"modified":"2025-12-10T13:57:48","modified_gmt":"2025-12-10T13:57:48","slug":"venezuelan-nobel-peace-prize-winner-misses-ceremony-but-vows-to-continue-struggle-maria-corina-machado","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/?p=2348","title":{"rendered":"Venezuelan Nobel peace prize winner misses ceremony but vows to continue struggle | Mar\u00eda Corina Machado"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Venezuela\u2019s most prominent opposition leader, Mar\u00eda Corina Machado<\/a>, has vowed to continue her struggle to free the country from years of \u201cobscene corruption\u201d, \u201cbrutal dictatorship\u201d and \u201cdespair\u201d as she was awarded the Nobel peace prize at a ceremony in Norway\u2019s capital, Oslo.<\/p>\n

The 58-year-old conservative has lived in hiding in Venezuela since its authoritarian leader, Nicol\u00e1s Maduro, was accused of stealing the 2024 presidential election from her political movement. Despite fevered speculation that she would make a dramatic appearance at Wednesday\u2019s event, having somehow slipped out of Venezuela,<\/a> Machado was not present, although she was expected to arrive in Oslo in the coming hours.<\/p>\n

In a lecture delivered by her daughter, Ana Corina Sosa Machado, the former congresswoman and veteran pro-democracy campaigner pledged to continue leading Venezuela<\/a> on its \u201clong march to freedom\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cVenezuela will breathe again,\u201d said Machado, who has lived underground since Maduro launched a wave of repression after refusing to accept he had lost last year\u2019s vote, despite compelling proof<\/a>.<\/p>\n

<\/svg><\/span>Ana Corina Sosa, the daughter of Mar\u00eda Corina Machado, at the Nobel Peace Center in Oslo before the prize ceremony.<\/span> Photograph: Gorm Kallestad\/NTB\/AFP\/Getty<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cWe will open prison doors and watch thousands who were unjustly detained step into the warm sun, embraced at last by those who never stopped fighting for them \u2026 We will hug again. Fall in love again. Hear our streets fill with laughter and music,\u201d added Machado, who some call Venezuela\u2019s Iron Lady.<\/p>\n

Opening Wednesday\u2019s ceremony, the chair of the Norwegian Nobel committee, J\u00f8rgen Watne Frydnes, said Machado was \u201csafe\u201d and \u201cwill be here with us in Oslo\u201d after \u201ca journey in a situation of extreme danger\u201d, although not in time for the event.<\/p>\n

In an audio message released by her team, the activist thanked those who had \u201crisked their lives\u201d to get her out of Venezuela and confirmed: \u201cI\u2019m on my way \u2026 I\u2019ll see you very soon.\u201d It was not immediately clear how Machado had managed to escape Venezuela but the Wall Street Journal, citing US officials, reported<\/a> that she had secretly travelled by boat to the Caribbean island of Cura\u00e7ao on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

Latin America leaders and celebrities including the rightwing presidents of Argentina, Ecuador, Panama and Paraguay \u2013 Javier Milei, Daniel Noboa, Jos\u00e9 Ra\u00fal Mulino and Santiago Pe\u00f1a \u2013 travelled to Oslo to offer Machado their support as her movement continued its crusade to force Maduro from power.<\/p>\n

Also present was Edmundo Gonz\u00e1lez, the 76-year-old diplomat who filled Machado\u2019s shoes in last year\u2019s election after she was banned from running and is widely believed to have won. Gonz\u00e1lez was forced into exile in Spain by Maduro\u2019s post-election crackdown.<\/p>\n

The Venezuelan pianist and activist Gabriela Montero<\/a> flew to Norway to perform at Wednesday\u2019s ceremony inside the redbrick Oslo city hall.<\/p>\n

<\/svg><\/span>Norway\u2019s King Harald, Queen Sonja, Crown Prince Haakon, Crown Princess Mette-Marit and Princess Ingrid Alexandra attend the Nobel peace prize ceremony in Oslo.<\/span> Photograph: Leonhard F\u00f6ger\/Reuters<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Montero said Machado had asked her to play Mi Querencia<\/a> (My Haven), a song by the Venezuelan composer Sim\u00f3n D\u00edaz that the pianist believed spoke to the exodus of more than eight million people<\/a> who have fled economic hardship and repression in Venezuela since Maduro took power in 2013.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe song is about coming home,\u201d Montero said before the ceremony. \u201cThat has been [Mar\u00eda Corina\u2019s] mantra all these years: that we will all be able to return home and that families will come together and the country will rebuild with that enormous diaspora that has spread through the world for so many years.\u201d<\/p>\n

Montero paid tribute to a politician she called \u201cthe most courageous, resilient woman that I know\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cMar\u00eda Corina never abandoned the fight despite her enormous personal sacrifices \u2026 She always kept the goal in sight: which has been to liberate a country that she loves and that she has given her life up for,\u201d the musician said.<\/p>\n

Addressing the audience, Frydnes celebrated Machado\u2019s \u201ctireless work promoting democratic rights for the people of Venezuela and for her struggle to achieve a peaceful and just transition from dictatorship to democracy\u201d.<\/p>\n

Standing next to a portrait of Machado, Frydnes sent a direct message to Maduro: \u201cYou should accept the election results and step down \u2026 because that is the will of the Venezuelan people \u2026 Let a new age dawn.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Nobel ceremony coincides with one of the most dramatic and uncertain moments in Venezuela\u2019s turbulent recent history. Since August, Donald Trump has ordered a massive naval deployment in the Caribbean Sea and a series of deadly strikes on alleged narco boats off Venezuela\u2019s northern coast.<\/a><\/p>\n

On Tuesday, two US fighter jets flew within less than 80km of Venezuela\u2019s second biggest city, Maracaibo<\/a>, in a show of force.<\/p>\n

While the official justification for the military buildup is Trump\u2019s \u201cwar on drugs\u201d, most analysts and diplomats believe his fundamental goal is to topple Maduro by sparking a military uprising. Trump tried \u2013 but failed \u2013 to remove Maduro during his first term in the White House with a \u201cmaximum pressure\u201d campaign of sanctions and military threats.<\/p>\n

\u201cHis days are numbered,\u201d Trump told Politico this week \u2013 although allies, including the now secretary of state Marco Rubio, made almost identical claims<\/a> during the 2019 attempt to unseat Maduro, and were wrong.<\/p>\n

Speaking to Politico, Trump refused to rule out a ground invasion of Venezuela, although given his non-interventionist policy few expect that to happen. Still, some observers fear bloodshed if Trump intensifies his military campaign, possibly by launching strikes against land targets within Venezuela.<\/p>\n

Celso Amorim, the chief foreign policy adviser to Brazil\u2019s leftwing president, Luiz In\u00e1cio Lula da Silva, told the Guardian that a US attack could create a Vietnam-style \u201cwar zone\u201d.<\/a><\/p>\n

Other observers remember the chaos unleashed by the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 to overthrow Saddam Hussein or the 2011 Nato airstrikes that helped bring down Muammar Gaddafi.<\/p>\n

Montero rejected such comparisons. \u201cThey try to compare it to other \u2018regime changes\u2019 in history \u2013 and it\u2019s nothing like anything else that we have ever seen,\u201d the pianist said.<\/p>\n

<\/svg><\/span>Corina Parisca de Machado, the mother of Mar\u00eda Corina Machado, arrives at Oslo city hall before the award ceremony.<\/span> Photograph: Ole Berg-Rusten\/EPA<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cWe have marched, we have voted, we have protested [against Maduro] \u2026 We\u2019ve done everything to free ourselves of this terrible, terrible chapter of our history \u2026 and it\u2019s very frustrating when we encounter public opinion that doesn\u2019t understand what has happened to us and what we are up against.\u201d<\/p>\n

In her lecture, Machado said Venezuela had once been \u201cthe most stable [democracy] in Latin America\u201d but had been plunged into economic ruin and authoritarian rule in the years after the 1998 election of Maduro\u2019s mentor, Hugo Ch\u00e1vez, as the country\u2019s oil wealth was frittered away and stolen. \u201cFrom 1999 onward, the regime dismantled our democracy,\u201d she said. \u201c[We have spent] almost three decades \u2026 fighting against a brutal dictatorship.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Norwegian Nobel Institute\u2019s decision to honour Machado is not without controversy. While the committee celebrated<\/a> her dogged struggle against Venezuela\u2019s \u201cbrutal, authoritarian state\u201d, critics pointed to Machado\u2019s past support for military intervention to unseat the country\u2019s dictator. Others have criticised her failure to condemn Trump\u2019s deadly strikes in the Caribbean or his treatment of Venezuelan migrants<\/a> deported to a notorious prison in El Salvador. Dozens of protesters took to the streets of Oslo on the eve of the ceremony to denounce the award.<\/p>\n

\u201cA peace prize must be awarded to actors who genuinely work for peace, dialogue, and justice. When the prize is given to a politician who supports military interference and actions contrary to international law, it breaks with the very purpose of the Nobel peace prize<\/a>,\u201d Gro Standnes, an activist and member of the Norwegian Peace Council said in a statement.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

#Venezuelan #Nobel #peace #prize #winner #misses #ceremony #vows #continue #struggle #Mar\u00eda #Corina #Machado<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Venezuela\u2019s most prominent opp… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2349,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2348"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2348"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2348\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2349"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2348"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2348"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2348"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}