Maria Corina Machado He spent more than eleven years without being able to leave Venezuela. The opposition leader had been banned from leaving the country since the clashes between security forces and protesters that occurred in the student marches against Chavismo in February 2014. A series of clashes that, according to the Prosecutor’s Office’s accusation, were part of a plan to attack the president’s life Nicolas Maduro of which Machado was a part.
“I have no intention of leaving,” declared the opposition leader, who also did not undertake the (so frequented) route of exile after the elections of July 28 of last year. An election that, according to the voting records collected by the opposition, the veteran diplomat won easily. Edmundo González Urrutiathe man chosen by the opposition platform to replace the disqualified María Corina on the electoral ballot, but whom Chavismo manipulated to keep Maduro in the Miraflores Palace.
Since then, Machado remained hidden, in hiding, to avoid an arrest suffered by, among other opposition leaders, Juan Pablo Guanipaone of his closest collaborators.
María Corina promised not to abandon Venezuela to continue acting as a counterweight to the regime from within. A priority that only altered the decision of the Nobel Committee to recognize with the Nobel Peace Prize “his tireless work promoting the democratic rights of the people of Venezuela and his fight to achieve a just and peaceful transition from dictatorship to democracy.”
The opposition leader made it clear from the first moment that she would not miss the delivery ceremony at Oslo City Hall, and she did not keep her promise only by a few hours difference. It was his daughter, Ana Corina Sosawho collected the award on his behalf.
From Oslo they apologized for their absence. Machado lives, in the words of Kristian Berg Harpvikendirector of the Nobel Institute, “with a death threat from the regime, pure and simple”, a threat that “extends beyond the borders of Venezuela, from the regime and its allies around the world.”
But he arrived at dawn Grand Hotel, where her family and dozens of supporters were waiting for her. At 2:30 a.m. (Spanish time) on Wednesday, December 11, María Corina Machado appeared publicly again.
#WORLD| At this time the Nobel Peace Prize winner, María Corina Machado, is present in Oslo (Norway). This is Machado’s first public appearance in eleven months, after living in hiding in the face of threats from Chavismo.
Machado managed to leave Venezuela on a ship that arrived in… pic.twitter.com/UgM5dbjHQP
— ÚltimaHoraCaracol (@UltimaHoraCR) December 11, 2025
She went out to the balcony to greet those compatriots who were waiting for her in the Norwegian cold to sing the Venezuelan anthem in unison, at which time the opponent placed her hand on her chest, visibly excited.
It was then that he decided to go down to the street to meet directly with the Venezuelans who had traveled to Oslo, even bypassing security protocols to be able to touch and hug them. Between cries of “Long live Venezuela”, “Strength, Maria!” and “Freedom!” Machado was able to find shelter after a year in hiding.
abnormal leak
According to The Wall Street JournalMachado left Venezuela on Tuesday by boat and traveled to the Caribbean island of Curacao. Her entourage kept the trip in the most absolute secret to protect the safety of the opposition leader.
Bloomberg He offered more details about his journey. According to the North American newspaper, Machado left Venezuela by boat on Tuesday, with the help of some members of the regime. He headed to Curacao, a Caribbean island located about 64 kilometers from the Venezuelan coast under the sovereignty of the Netherlands, at whose airport the United States has a cooperative security center (CLS).
Aircraft from the United States and its partners in the region may stop at these former forward operating bases, as part of the fight against transnational organized crime.
Only bad weather delayed his boat trip and prevented him from being in Oslo this Wednesday, according to Bloomberg. The Dutch Government has not yet confirmed the route. Nor have the United States and Venezuela commented on the leak.
The route supposedly used by María Corina is unprecedented. The most similar case was carried out by the Venezuelan prosecutor Luisa Ortega Diaza former Chavismo judicial operator fallen into disgrace. In August 2017, Díaz left the coast of Venezuela on a speedboat bound for Aruba, another Dutch island in Caribbean waters.
There is only one big difference, and that is that the new Nobel Peace Prize winner intends to return to Venezuela. “I want to assure you and every Venezuelan that I will return,” he declared last week on Norwegian public radio. NRK. His followers fear that Maduro will not allow it and that the possibility of remaining in exile will weaken his leadership. It wouldn’t be the first time the script has been repeated.