The Nobel Peace Prize winner in 2025, María Corina Machado, is fulfilling all scheduled events in Peace Week today, after her early morning arrival. Dressed in pristine white, a color that has always characterized her in her fight, she was at the Parliament of the Norwegian capital alongside Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store.
Her first words to the press alongside the Norwegian prime minister were: "Venezuela will be free." In addition to repeating some of the statements that her eldest daughter made yesterday at the Nobel reception ceremony, such as that only with love will peace be achieved. She also stated that she hopes to welcome all Venezuelans "who have had to flee the country." Precisely, she greeted and embraced the Venezuelans gathered yesterday in front of the awardee's hotel with her usual closeness.
She thanked them for the "risk" they took to allow her to reach Oslo: "I want to take advantage of your question to thank all those men and women who risked their lives so that I could be here today. Someday I will be able to tell you, because right now I don't want to put them in danger."
Regarding the question of a possible invasion by the US, "some people talk about invasion in Venezuela, but Venezuela has already been invaded by Russian agents, Hezbollah, and criminal gangs." Therefore, she has asked the international community to cut off the regime's resources to prevent the control it exerts over the country.
The US military seized and confiscated a large tanker off the coast of Venezuela on Wednesday. Another step in the pressure against the Nicolás Maduro regime.
Regarding her clandestine status and dangerous escape, Machado pointed out that she does not believe the Venezuelan government knew where she was hiding.
Prior to the meeting with Jonas Gahr Store, Machado gave an interview to the BBC. "Of course, I will return. I know exactly the risks I am taking. I will be where it is most useful for our cause," the politician told the British media. "Until recently, I believed I had to be in Venezuela; today, I believe I have to be in Oslo on behalf of our cause," she added. "For over 16 months, I have not been able to hug or touch anyone. Suddenly, in a matter of hours, I have been able to see the people I love the most, touch them, cry, and pray together," she added.
"The Venezuelan government says I am a terrorist and that I have to spend the rest of my life in jail, and they are looking for me," she said. "So leaving Venezuela today, under these circumstances, is very, very dangerous," Machado admitted. "I just want to say today that I am here because many men - she said - and women risked their lives so that I could come to Oslo."
"We need to address this regime not as a conventional dictatorship, but as a criminal structure," Machado said, accusing the Maduro regime of being funded by criminal activities such as drug trafficking and human trafficking, and reiterated her calls to the international community to help Venezuela "cut off those flows" of criminal resources.
María Corina Machado's first appearance in Oslo after 12 years without being able to leave her country, her first public appearance after 16 months in hiding, was for her people, after 2:20 a.m. on Thursday. From the balcony of the Grand Hotel, the Venezuelan appeared to receive the mass support that the Venezuelans who traveled to the Nordic country longed for and that the whole world awaited. In the morning, the Nobel Peace Prize winner announced that she plans to take her award back to Venezuela, but refused to specify when she would return to her home country. "I came to receive the award on behalf of the Venezuelan people and will take it back to Venezuela at the right time. Of course, I will not say when," she told the press in Oslo.