BBC: Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Suddenly Disappeared.
- 10.12.2025, 14:22
Organizers of the award ceremony do not know her whereabouts.
The Nobel Institute on Tuesday canceled a press conference by Nobel Peace Prize winner Maria Corina Machado and said it had "no idea" of her whereabouts. Machado is Venezuela's opposition leader. She has been in hiding since the 2024 elections, the results of which Machado herself and her supporters say were rigged, writes VBC.
She was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for her efforts to bring democracy to Venezuela and was due to formally receive the award at a ceremony on Wednesday.
Machado regularly posts video messages on social media, but does so usually against a neutral white wall, the laureate's current whereabouts unknown.
The Nobel Institute had previously said she would attend the ceremony in person, but in a press release Tuesday it said: "Maria Corina Machado herself stated in an interview how difficult the trip to Oslo will be. Therefore, at this time, we are unable to provide further information on when and how she will arrive at the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony."
Machado's family is already in Oslo.
Venezuela's attorney general Tarek William Saab told AFP in November, "Being outside Venezuela and the subject of numerous criminal investigations, she is considered a fugitive from the authorities." He added that Machado faces charges of "conspiracy, hate speech and terrorism."
Machado had earlier told her supporters that she would return to Venezuela after receiving the award.
If she attends the ceremony, it will be her first public appearance since the beginning of the year: on January 9, she participated in a protest in Caracas against the inauguration of President Nicolas Maduro.
After Venezuela's 2024 election, the opposition released the results of the vote count, which indicated a victory for opponents of the incumbent government, but Nicolas Maduro declared himself the winner. Some countries, including the United States, recognized opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez as the president-elect. Machado herself was barred from running in the election.