Breaking: Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado won’t collect the Nobel Peace Prize in person at Wednesday’s ceremony in Oslo, the head of the Norwegian Nobel Institute said https://t.co/Inmd02EwVH
— The Wall Street Journal (@WSJ) December 10, 2025
Mystery surrounded the whereabouts of this year’s Nobel Peace Prize winner, Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado, who didn’t accept the award in person in Oslo on Wednesday.
Instead, a giant portrait of Machado hung next to an empty seat on the stage in Oslo City Hall and her daughter read a speech on her behalf where she noted that the award, “reminds the world that democracy is essential to peace.”
Machado had “done everything in her power to come to the ceremony,” and her journey had been one “of extreme danger,” the Institute said in a statement.
But although the Institute was “profoundly happy to confirm that she is safe and that she will be with us in Oslo,” Machado was unable to receive the award in person at the ceremony attended by members of Norway’s royal family as well as Latin American leaders including Argentine President Javier Milei and Ecuadorean President Daniel Noboa.
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