Venezuela’s María Corina Machado appears in Oslo after a year in hiding

A life of clandestinity is over for María Corina Machado. After more than a year in hiding for security reasons, the Venezuelan opposition leader, this year’s Nobel Peace Prize laureate, arrived in Oslo at midnight on Thursday. At around 2:30 a.m., Machado, who had not left her country for 14 years, appeared on the balcony of the Grand Hotel and greeted the crowd waiting for her in the street, with whom she sang the Venezuelan national anthem.

A few minutes later, Machado, dressed in black, went down to the street surrounded by heavy security to continue greeting and taking selfies with her supporters. “María, you did it!” they shouted. “Oslo, here I am!” the Venezuelan politician said on her social media profile. In another post, alongside photos of her meeting with those waiting for her arrival in the Norwegian capital, Machado said: “The hug that all of Venezuela needs.”

The opposition leader carried out her first official engagements in the Norwegian parliament Thursday, including a meeting and a press conference with Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre. Machado left Venezuela Tuesday by boat for the Caribbean island of Curaçao before heading to Europe, according to The Wall Street Journal.

The BBC revealed in an interview with Machado that the opposition leader had to cross a dozen military checkpoints in disguise and traveled from Curaçao to the Norwegian capital on a private plane that flew in from Miami. “I just want to say today that I’m here, because many men and women risked their lives in order for me to arrive in Oslo,” the Nobel Peace Prize winner said in conversation with journalist Lucy Hockings. “Of course I’m going back [to Venezuela],” Machado continued, “I’m going to be in the place where I’m most useful for our cause.”

Highly anticipated and hugely symbolic, Machado’s arrival in the Norwegian capital marks a milestone for the opposition to Nicolás Maduro’s regime and for millions of Venezuelans who have been following every clue that has emerged in recent days about the opposition leader’s whereabouts. Her departure from Venezuela also poses a challenge for the Chavista government and raises new questions about the future at a critical moment in the country’s political history.

Over the last 24 hours, the story of Machado’s journey to reach Norway underwent an endless series of unexpected twists and turns. Early Wednesday morning, the Norwegian Nobel Institute announced that this year’s winner would not be present at the ceremony at Oslo City Hall. About an hour before the gala, however, the institution said in a statement that the Venezuelan opposition leader had embarked “on a journey in a situation of extreme danger” and that she “had done everything possible to attend the ceremony.” “We are deeply happy to confirm that she is safe and will be with us,” it added. Just a few minutes later, a call between the leader and the chairman of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, Jørgen Watne Frydnes, was broadcast.

“I will be in Oslo, I am on my way,” Machado said in the telephone conversation. “I know that there are hundreds of Venezuelans from different parts of the world that were able to reach your city, as well as my family and my team,” the opposition leader said. “As soon as I arrive I will be able to embrace all my family and my children that I have not seen for two years and so many Venezuelan-Norwegians that I know share our struggle.”

Amid the confusion, conflicting information, and great anticipation, it was the award winner’s daughter, Ana Corina Sosa, who collected the prize on her behalf and read her acceptance speech. “Our political prisoners, the persecuted, their families, and all who defend human rights,” said the opposition leader in her message, “to them belongs this honor. To them belongs this day. To them belongs the future.”

In Oslo were her family members, her closest collaborators and allies, her message, and her determination to continue the struggle. “I have come here to tell you a story: the story of a people and their long march toward freedom,” her daughter said in the speech. “What an honor to hear my acceptance speech for the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize in my daughter’s voice, and to know that very soon I will be able to embrace her and my family again,” Machado wrote in her first social media post after three days of silence, when it was already nighttime in freezing Oslo and shortly after hundreds of Venezuelans took to the streets to participate in the traditional torchlight procession, a symbol that has been repeated on the streets of the Norwegian capital since 1954, honoring each year’s winners and demonstrating that light always prevails in the darkness.

“Freedom, freedom, freedom, Venezuela, freedom!” roared the Venezuelan diaspora outside the Grand Hotel, where the Nobel suite was still awaiting the arrival of this year’s laureate. Ana Corina Sosa appeared on the balcony. Torches were raised to the sky. A huge Venezuelan flag was placed on the steps of the Norwegian parliament. And the crowd shouted, sang, and cried. The Nobel Prize marked the greatest symbolic achievement for the Venezuelan opposition after two decades of darkness, repression, and powerlessness. And then, finally, María Corina arrived.

Ramsés Parra, 22, had been waiting all night for Machado with his brothers Leander and Luis, 19 and 25, in front of the Grand Hotel, which has been converted into the Venezuelan opposition’s headquarters in Oslo. “She is the spokesperson for those of us who cannot speak,” said the young man, with the Venezuelan flag draped over his shoulders. The three young men, originally from the state of Cojedes, hoped to get the politician’s attention so she can help them regularize their immigration status in Norway, where they have been living for four years.

“María, your people salute you! We love you!” the crowd shouted when they saw her leaving the hotel, amid a heavy police presence. “I love you too, see you soon,” Machado replied, blowing kisses while being hurried along by the entourage escorting her to the Storting, the Norwegian parliament, where she began her official activities at around 8:30 a.m. Thursday.

In the Scandinavian country’s legislative body, she was scheduled to meet with parliamentarians and sign the distinguished visitors’ book. At around 9:45 a.m., Prime Minister Støre was scheduled to receive Machado at the Norwegian government’s guest house. The joint press conference was scheduled for 10:15 a.m., according to the program released by the Nobel Institute. Another meeting with the media has been announced for 12:30 p.m. at the hotel where she is staying.

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