Maria Corina Machado: In-hiding peace prize winner makes emotional appearance after unprecedented journey

Venezuela's in-hiding opposition leader has made her first public appearance in months after covertly journeying to Oslo to receive the Nobel Peace Prize.

Maria Corina Machado made her return to the public eye in the early hours of this morning from the balcony of the Norwegian capital's Grand Hotel.

She didn't make it to Oslo in time to receive the Nobel Peace Prize in person, after an extraordinary day shrouded in uncertainty over her whereabouts.

It was accepted on her behalf by her daughter Ana Corina Sosa.

An unprecedented journey fraught with risk

Machado isn't the first Nobel Laureate unable to attend, but her journey was unprecedented in the history of the prestigious prize.

Her departure from Venezuela, carried out amid heavy secrecy and probably with covert US help, was fraught with risk, but on Wednesday she was en route to Norway.

Reports suggested she first travelled by boat to the Caribbean island of Curacao before getting a private flight via the US. Two US F-16 jets were tracked in the skies close to Curacao late Tuesday night.

In a phone call with members of the Nobel Institute, released just after she took off, Machado said she was "very sad" not to make it in person but "as soon as I arrive, I will be able to embrace all my family and children".

In her absence, her daughter, whom she hasn't seen for almost two years, collected the award in Oslo City Hall and delivered the speech her mother wrote.

'Democracy is essential to peace'

She spoke about 2,500 people "kidnapped, disappeared or tortured" under Nicolas Maduro's government - and slammed the corruption that has brought Venezuela, once one of the world's richest nations, to its knees.

"This prize carries profound meaning; it reminds the world that democracy is essential to peace," she said.

"More than anything, what we Venezuelans can offer the world is the lesson forged through this long and difficult journey - that to have democracy, we must be willing to fight for freedom."

To a standing ovation from an audience that included several South American leaders, Machado thanked the people of Norway and sent a message to her fellow countrymen and women, many of whom had travelled to Oslo from their homes outside Venezuela.

"Venezuela will breathe again," her daughter read. "We will open prison doors and watch thousands who were unjustly detained step into the warm sun, embraced at last by those who never stopped fighting for them.

"We will see our grandmothers settle children on their laps to tell them stories not of distant forefathers but of their own parents' courage.

"We will hug again. Fall in love again. Hear our streets fill with laughter and music. All the simple joys the world takes for granted will be ours."

How did it come to this?

Machado is the leader of a grassroots political movement fighting for democracy in Venezuela.

She was banned by Maduro from running for election, so she rallied a campaign behind a little-known veteran diplomat Edmundo Gonzalez.

She organised and trained more than a million volunteers to monitor elections in 2024 and collect data.

Those results, smuggled out of the country, were verified by independent experts and confirmed a landslide win for Gonzalez and Machado's party.

Maduro refused to recognise the result and detained thousands of opponents.

Protests have failed to dislodge him, although US President Donald Trump has stationed a massive naval force off the coast and has warned the Venezuelan leader his "days are numbered".

More on US-Venezuela crisis:
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Maduro ready for land strikes

There and back again

Mr Trump had lobbied publicly to win this year's Nobel Prize himself, but rang Machado to congratulate her. Some members of Trump's administration had threatened the Nobel Committee if he didn't win.

Edmundo Gonzalez, who was at the ceremony in Oslo, has since gone into exile in Spain, but Machado has remained in Venezuela, spending most of her time in hiding.

Her mother, sister, and children have also travelled to Oslo to be reunited with her.

The decision to travel to Norway is fraught with risk.

Having successfully left the country, she faces a dangerous journey home again.

(c) Sky News 2025: Maria Corina Machado: In-hiding peace prize winner makes emotional appe