Venezuelan Nobel peace prize winner will not attend ceremony, say organisers

"The Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado will not attend the Nobel peace prize ceremony and the award will be accepted by her daughter, organisers have said. Machado has been seen only once in public since going into hiding in August last year amid a tense showdown with the president, Nicolas Maduro. Venezuela's attorney general has said Machado, 58, would be considered a fugitive if she left the country to accept the award."

"It was unclear in the hours before the ceremony on Wednesday whether or not Machado was in Norway for the event due to start at 1pm (1200 GMT) but the Nobel Institute spokesperson Erik Aasheim finally confirmed that she would not be there. It will be her daughter Ana Corina Machado who will receive the prize in her mother's name, the Nobel Institute director, Kristian Berg Harpviken, told Norway's NRK radio. Her daughter will give the speech that Maria Corina herself wrote."

"While organisers said Machado had previously indicated she would attend, suspicions were raised when a traditional press conference with the award winner on Tuesday was postponed and then cancelled. Machado has accused Maduro of stealing Venezuela's July 2024 election, from which she was banned. Her claim is backed by much of the international community. The Oslo ceremony coincides with a large US military build-up in the Caribbean in recent weeks and deadly strikes on what Washington says are drug smuggling boats. Maduro has said the goal of the US operations which Machado has said are justified is to topple the government and seize Venezuela's oil reserves."

Maria Corina Machado will not attend the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony and her daughter, Ana Corina Machado, will accept the award and deliver the speech Machado wrote. Machado has been in hiding since August amid a tense confrontation with President Nicolás Maduro and has made only one public appearance since then. Venezuela's attorney general warned Machado would be considered a fugitive if she left the country to accept the prize. Uncertainty about Machado's presence in Norway persisted until organisers confirmed her absence. The ceremony coincides with a recent US military build-up in the Caribbean and regional tensions over drug smuggling operations and political claims about Venezuela's oil.

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