Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado will miss Nobel Peace Prize ceremony

OSLO, Norway (AP) — Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado will miss the ceremony to award her the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo on Wednesday, the head of the Norwegian Nobel Institute said.

Machado last appeared in public 11 months ago. Nobel Institute director Kristian Berg Harpviken told public broadcaster NRK the Venezuelan opposition leader was not in the Norwegian capital on the day of the ceremony and her daughter will accept the prize on Machado’s behalf.

The institute did not immediately respond to emails or calls from The Associated Press seeking comment.

On Tuesday, a news conference that Machado was expected to attend was canceled after being delayed for several hours.

Prominent Latin American figures planned to attend Wednesday’s ceremony in a signal of solidarity with Machado, including Argentine President Javier Milei, Ecuador’s President Daniel Noboa, Panama’s President José Raúl Mulino and Paraguayan President Santiago Peña.

Machado has been living in hiding and has not been seen in public since Jan. 9, when she was briefly detained after joining supporters in a protest in Caracas, Venezuela’s capital.

The 58-year-old’s win for her struggle to achieve a democratic transition in her South American nation was announced on Oct. 10, and she was described as a woman “who keeps the flame of democracy burning amid a growing darkness.”

Machado won an opposition primary election and intended to challenge President Nicolás Maduro in last year’s presidential election, but the government barred her from running for office. Retired diplomat Edmundo González took her place.

The lead-up to the July 28, 2024 election saw widespread repression, including disqualifications, arrests and human rights violations. That increased after the country’s National Electoral Council, which is stacked with Maduro loyalists, declared the incumbent the winner.

González sought asylum in Spain last year after a Venezuelan court issued a warrant for his arrest.

U.N. human rights officials and many independent rights groups have expressed concerns about the situation in Venezuela, and called for Maduro to be held accountable for the crackdown on dissent.

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.

“There is a long tradition that when a Peace Prize laureate cannot be present, close family members represent them,” Harpviken said. “That happened with Narges Mohammadi, and with Ales Bialiatski; both were imprisoned at the time. And the same will happen with Maria Corina Machado today. The daughter will deliver the statement her mother has written.”