OSLO, Dec 10 (Reuters) – Nobel Peace Prize laureate Maria Corina Machado arrived in Oslo in the middle of the night on Thursday, the head of the Nobel committee said, after she failed to reach the Norwegian capital in time to receive her award at a ceremony held hours earlier.
The 58-year-old engineer had secretly left Venezuela for Oslo in defiance of a decade-long travel ban imposed by authorities in her home country and after spending more than a year in hiding.
“I can confirm that Maria Corina Machado has arrived in Oslo,” Joergen Watne Frydnes told people gathered in the lobby of the Grand Hotel, where Nobel laureates traditionally stay.
“She is on her way here, but she will go straight to meet her family … We’ll see you all tomorrow.”
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Her daughter, Ana Corina Sosa Machado, accepted the Nobel Prize in her name and delivered a speech by her mother in which she said democracies must be prepared to fight for freedom in order to survive.
In her speech, Machado said that the prize held profound significance, not only for her country but for the world.
“It reminds the world that democracy is essential to peace,” she said via her daughter, whose voice cracked when she spoke of her mother. “And more than anything, what we Venezuelans can offer the world is the lesson forged through this long and difficult journey: that to have a democracy, we must be willing to fight for freedom.”
LAUREATE LEFT VENEZUELA BY BOAT
Machado left Venezuela by boat on Tuesday and travelled to the Caribbean island of Curacao, from where she departed on a private plane for Norway, according to a person familiar with the matter.
The source, who had been briefed by Machado’s camp, said her escape from the Venezuelan coast was handled by her security staff. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Machado’s travel to Curacao, which was first reported by the Wall Street Journal.
A large portrait of a smiling Machado hung in the Oslo City Hall to represent her. The audience cheered and clapped when Norwegian Nobel Committee head Joergen Watne Frydnes said during his speech that Machado would be coming to Oslo.
