A planned news conference by Venezuelan opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner Maria Corina Machado has been cancelled, a day before the Nobel award ceremony in Oslo, Norway.
The Norwegian Nobel Institute cancelled the event, as it was unclear whether the Venezuelan opposition leader – whose whereabouts remain unclear – would be able to collect her award in person.
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Originally scheduled for 1pm local time (12:00 GMT) on Tuesday, the press conference with Machado was first postponed before finally being cancelled hours later.
The Nobel Committee awarded the prize to Machado for her fight against what it described as the dictatorial rule of Nicolas Maduro, who has been president of Venezuela since 2013.
Fifty-eight-year-old Machado has been subject to a decade-long travel ban imposed by Maduro’s government, and went into hiding in her country in August 2024.
“Maria Corina Machado has herself stated in interviews how challenging the journey to Oslo, Norway, will be,” said the Nobel Institute in an email to the Associated Press news agency.
“We therefore cannot at this point provide any further information about when and how she will arrive for the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony.”
The institute did not specify whether the news conference would take place at a later point.
Machado’s spokesperson did not immediately respond to questions about her location and planned attendance at the award ceremony, which will take place on Wednesday at 1pm local time (12:00 GMT) at Oslo’s City Hall.
In attendance will be Norway’s King Harald and Queen Sonja and at least four Latin American heads of state, including Argentina’s Javier Milei and Ecuador’s Daniel Noboa.
Several members of Machado’s family, including her mother, her three sisters and three children, were already in Oslo for the event. None of them have disclosed her location.
Machado last appeared in public at a demonstration in Caracas on January 9, protesting against Maduro’s inauguration for his third term.
She has accused Maduro of stealing the July 2024 election she was banned from standing in, despite having won the opposition’s primary by a landslide, a claim backed by much of the international community.
Venezuela’s attorney general, Tarek William Saab, said last month that the opposition leader would be considered a “fugitive” if she travelled to Norway to accept the prize.
“By being outside Venezuela and having numerous criminal investigations, she is considered a fugitive,” Saab told the AFP news agency, adding that Machado is accused of “acts of conspiracy, incitement of hatred, [and] terrorism”.
Venezuelan Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello said on Monday that he did not know if Machado would travel to Oslo.
While she has been hailed by many for her efforts to bring democracy to Venezuela, she has also been criticised by others for aligning herself with United States President Donald Trump, to whom she dedicated her Nobel Prize.
The Oslo ceremony coincides with a large US military build-up in the Caribbean in recent weeks, and several deadly strikes on what Washington says are drug smuggling boats in the region.
Source: Aljazeera
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