Unfortunately, she is not in Norway and will not be on stage at Oslo City Hall at 1 p.m. today, says Kristian Berg Harpviken, head of the Norwegian Nobel Institute, to NRK.
María Corina Machado has not made a public appearance since January 9, when she spoke at a demonstration against the country's authoritarian leader Nicolás Maduro in Caracas. Since then, she has been in hiding.
The daughter receives the award
As recently as this weekend, Harpviken announced that Machado had confirmed his presence in Oslo. However, yesterday's traditional press conference was cancelled at short notice after the Nobel Institute stated that it did not know the laureate's whereabouts.
Instead, it will be the daughter Ana Corina Sosa who will receive the award on her mother's behalf, and give a speech that Machado wrote, reports NRK.
The idea was that three generations of the Machado family would meet in Oslo today after several years of exile in different countries. The ceremony in Norway will also be attended by a number of South American leaders, including Argentine President Javier Milei.
Living with death threats
According to the head of the Nobel Institute, it has been more demanding than expected to get Machado safely to Oslo.
She simply lives under death threats from the regime. That threat applies even when she is outside the country, from both the regime and the regime's friends around the world, Kristian Berg Harpviken tells NRK.
58-year-old María Corina Machado is awarded the Peace Prize for her "tireless work in promoting democratic rights for the Venezuelan people and for her struggle to achieve a just and peaceful transition from dictatorship to democracy," according to the citation.
Born: October 7, 1967 in the Venezuelan capital, Caracas.
Began his career as an activist and leader of the Fundación Atenea.
In 2002, together with Alejandro Plaz, she created the voluntary organization Súmate, which, among other things, monitors elections.
Machado has long been a vocal critic of former President Hugo Chávez and his successor Nicolás Maduro. In 2010, she became more active in politics as a member of the National Assembly for the opposition Mesa de la Unidad Democrática (MUD) party.
In 2014, she led widespread demonstrations against the increasingly authoritarian Maduro. Since then, she has been a central leader of the Venezuelan opposition.
