Unlock Editor’s Digest for free
FT editor Roula Khalaf selects her favorite stories in this weekly newspaper.
Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado has been in hiding for the first time in more than a year to visit Oslo, where she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, although she did not arrive in time for the ceremony.
Machado, who had been living in a secret location inside Venezuela for 16 months to elude regime security forces, said in a voice recording posted on the Nobel Peace Prize website that she was preparing to fly to the Norwegian capital, where she would be reunited with her children after two years of separation.
“I’m going to Oslo right now,” Machado said. “As soon as I arrive I will be able to hug my whole family and my children who I have not seen for two years.”
His spokesman said later Wednesday that the opposition leader would speak at Oslo’s Grand Hotel at 2 p.m. local time on Thursday.
Machado’s Nobel Prize comes as Donald Trump orders massive naval construction off the Venezuelan coast. The US President has ordered the largest military deployment to the Caribbean since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, involving a dozen warships including the world’s most modern aircraft carriers, fighter jets and more than 14,000 troops.
Trump said on Wednesday that the US has seized an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela.
Machado has supported US military pressure on Maduro, telling Bloomberg in October that “the escalation that has taken place is the only way to force Maduro to understand that it is time to go”.
Machado went into hiding in Venezuela in August last year out of fear of arrest after the country’s authoritarian President Nicolas Maduro claimed victory in what was widely considered a stolen election.
The government had banned former MLA Machado from contesting elections. Known for her tenacity, Venezuela’s “Iron Lady” nominated retired diplomat Edmundo González in her place and campaigned tirelessly on her behalf.
It is unclear how Machado fled the country via Oslo this week, although US media reported she initially traveled by boat to Curaçao, a Dutch Caribbean island about 40 miles off the Venezuelan coast. Reports said their journey was delayed due to stormy seas.
“Many people risked their lives for me to reach Oslo,” Machado said in his phone call with the Nobel Prize committee. “It is a measure of what this recognition means to the Venezuelan people.”
The Nobel Committee said that Machado did “everything in his power” to reach the ceremony, including “travelling under conditions of extreme danger”.
Norwegian Nobel Committee chairman Jørgen Watne Friednes said in his opening remarks that Maduro should “accept the election results and step down”.
In reference to criticism of Machado’s support for Trump, Friedness said: “Many of us – from a safe distance – expect Venezuelan democratic leaders to pursue their goals with the moral purity that their opponents never display. It’s unrealistic. It’s unfair. And it reflects an ignorance of history.”
Machado’s award was received Wednesday by his daughter, Ana Corina Sosa, who delivered remarks from her mother.
“Venezuela will breathe again,” Machado wrote. “We will open the prison doors and see thousands of people unjustly detained step into the bright sunlight to finally embrace those who never stopped fighting for them.”
Machado was awarded the Peace Prize in October, with the Nobel Committee recognizing him “for his tireless work promoting democratic rights for the Venezuelan people and his struggle to achieve a just and peaceful transition from dictatorship to democracy.”
The White House has said its naval task force in the Caribbean – which has conducted at least 22 strikes against alleged drug-smuggling ships and killed dozens – is aimed at fighting drug smugglers. However, it is widely seen as an attempt to pressure Maduro, whom Washington has declared a narco-terrorist, to give up power.
Maduro’s Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello on Monday downplayed Machado’s peace prize, calling it an “auction” that is awarded to the “highest bidder.”
“Check who the Nobel Peace Prize winners are and you’ll get the answer,” Cabello said on her weekly television program. “Not much to see.”
Additional reporting by Ana Rodriguez Brazon in Caracas.
