How Venezuelan leader Machado reached Oslo? No one knows! But she confirms, 'I'm going back'

Venezuelan opposition leader and Nobel laureate Maria Corina Machado has ensured that she will return to her country, despite knowing the risk of it. She will address the media shortly. Earlier on Thursday, Machado made her first public appearance in almost a year and waved to supporters from the balcony of her Oslo hotel. The Nobel laureate was last seen in public on January 9 when she protested Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro's inauguration for his third term. Machado took the risk to leave Venezuela even after warnings by Maduro's government that she would be named ‘fugitive’ if she flees the country. It remains unclear how she escaped the country despite a travel ban that was imposed on her by the Maduro government in 2014.

"I came to receive the prize on behalf of the Venezuelan people and I will take it back to Venezuela at the correct moment," Machado said as she left the Norwegian parliament. Though, she didn't say when she would return but added that she wanted "to end with this tyranny very soon and have a free Venezuela".

Who is Maria Corina Machado?

Maria Corina Machado, also known as “Iron Lady of Venezuela”, was awarded 2025 Nobel Peace Prize for her “tireless work promoting democratic rights for the people of Venezuela and for her struggle to achieve a just and peaceful transition from dictatorship to democracy.” She has fought in Venezuela against the government of both Hugo Chávez and Nicolás Maduro. She won the opposition's primary election in 2023 but was barred by the Venezuelan government from running for president in the 2024 election. However, she also faces widespread criticism for allegedly supporting the Trump administration's military buildup in the Caribbean against alleged Venezuelan drug-boats and Israel PM Benjamin Netanyahu's Gaza war.

Machado's daughter accepts her Nobel Peace Prize

Just a day ago, Machado informed Jorgen Watne Frydnes, Chair of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, that she would not be able to reach the Nobel ceremony in time and her daughter, Ana Corina Sosa, stepped in to collect the award instead. At the award ceremony in Oslo on Wednesday, Sosa delivered a speech written by her mother, telling the audience that Venezuela had shown the world “we must be willing to fight for freedom.” Earlier in a statement on Thursday after reaching Oslo, Machado praised people of Venezuela who helped her flee and said, “So many people risked their lives in order for me to arrive in Oslo. This recognition is for the Venezuelan people. I want you to know that.”