Nobel Peace Prize: Where is Maria Corina Machado as her daughter steps in to collect the award in Oslo?

Venezuelan opposition figure Maria Corina Machado, who has been living in hiding for over a year, will not appear at Wednesday’s (December 10) Nobel Peace Prize ceremony. Her daughter, Ana Corina Sosa Machado, will step in to receive the award and deliver her mother’s prepared remarks, organisers confirmed.

Machado expected to arrive in Oslo by tomorrow morning says Nobel secretary

"Unfortunately, she (Maria Corina Machado) will not be here in time for today's ceremony or for the other events. We are very happy that we will be able to welcome her in Oslo quite shortly" the secretary of the Norwegian Nobel Committee Kristian Berg Harpviken was quoted as saying to news agency AFP ahead of the Nobel Peace award ceremony. "It is expected that she will arrive sometime between this evening and tomorrow morning" he added.

Where is Maria Corina Machado?

Machado has kept out of sight since August last year amid escalating tensions with President Nicolas Maduro’s government. Venezuela’s attorney general has warned that the 58-year-old would be treated as a “fugitive” if she attempted to travel abroad to claim the prize. Uncertainty surrounded her possible attendance until shortly before the ceremony’s scheduled start at 1:00 pm (1200 GMT), when Nobel Institute spokesperson Erik Aasheim told news agency AFP that Machado would not be present. Institute director Kristian Berg Harpviken told NRK radio that her daughter would collect the prize on her behalf. Harpviken said he had no information about Machado’s current location.

Several of Machado’s family members, along with Latin American leaders such as Argentina’s President Javier Milei, are in Oslo for the event. But doubts had grown after the customary pre-ceremony press conference with the laureate was postponed and ultimately cancelled. Machado has long argued that Maduro stole Venezuela’s July 2024 election, an assertion supported by many foreign governments. The ceremony takes place as US military activity increases in the Caribbean and tensions rise over strikes on alleged drug-smuggling vessels. Maduro claims the operations are part of a US effort to overthrow him and seize Venezuela’s oil wealth, a claim Machado has openly disputed.

Also Read: After Microsoft, Amazon announces $35 billion investment to boost India’s digital future

Since going underground, Machado’s only public appearance was on January 9 in Caracas, where she protested against Maduro’s third-term inauguration. The opposition maintains its candidate, Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia, now living in exile and present in Oslo, was the true winner of the 2024 vote. Machado received the Nobel Peace Prize on October 10 for her work promoting democratic change in Venezuela and challenging Maduro’s decade-long hold on power. Attorney General Tarek William Saab has accused her of conspiracy, incitement, and terrorism, insisting she would be a fugitive if she left the country.

Harpviken noted that the Nobel Peace Prize has previously been accepted by family members when recipients were unable to attend. Machado is praised internationally for her fight for democratic freedoms but has also faced criticism for her close alignment with US President Donald Trump, to whom she dedicated her Nobel Prize.

Who is Maria Corina Machado's daughter?

Meanwhile, Nobel laureates in science, literature, and economics are receiving their awards at a separate ceremony in Stockholm. Ana Corina Sosa Machado, who will accept the prize in her mother’s name, represents Maria Corina globally and advocates for international recognition of Venezuela’s contested 2024 election outcome. Based in New York, she works at Celonis, a leading process-intelligence SaaS company. She holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and a degree in Industrial Engineering from the University of Michigan.