Nobel laureate María Machado makes public appearance in Norway

Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado appeared in public for the first time in 11 months early Thursday morning, when she waved to supporters at a hotel in Norway’s capital Oslo hours after her daughter Ana Corina Sosa accepted the Nobel Peace Prize on her behalf. “She wants to live in a free Venezuela, and she will never give up on that purpose,” Sosa said. “That is why we all know, and I know, that she will be back in Venezuela very soon.”

OSLO, Norway (@AP) — Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado makes first public appearance in 11 months hours after Nobel ceremony.

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— Dori Toribio (@DoriToribio) December 11, 2025

Machado had been in hiding since Jan. 9, when she was briefly detained after joining supporters in a protest in Caracas, Venezuela’s capital. She had been expected to attend the award ceremony Wednesday in Oslo, where heads of state and her family were among those waiting to see her. Machado said that “since this is a prize for all Venezuelans, I believe that it will be received by them. And as soon as I arrive, I will be able to embrace all my family and my children that I’ve have not seen for two years and so many Venezuelans, Norwegians that I know that share our struggle and our fight.” The 58-year-old Machado’s win for her struggle to achieve a democratic transition in her South American nation was announced on Oct. 10.

Five past Nobel Peace Prize laureates were detained or imprisoned at the time of the award, according to the prize’s official website, most recently Iranian activist Narges Mohammadi in 2023 and Belarusian human rights advocate Ales Bialiatski in 2022. The others were Liu Xiaobo of China in 2010, Aung San Suu Kyi of Myanmar in 1991 and Carl von Ossietzky of Germany in 1935.