Democracies must be prepared to fight for freedom in order to survive, Nobel Peace Prize laureate Maria Corina Machado said on Wednesday, in a speech delivered by her daughter during a ceremony Machado could not attend.
The Venezuelan opposition leader 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 Ana Corina Sosa Machado.
"And the most important, the lesson Venezuelans can share with the world, is a lesson forged on a long and difficult path: if we want democracy, we must be prepared to fight for freedom."
A large portrait of a smiling Machado hung in the Oslo City Hall to represent her.
The 58-year-old engineer was due to receive the award at Oslo City Hall in the presence of King Harald, in defiance of a decade-long travel ban imposed by authorities in her home country and after spending more than a year in hiding.
But she was unable to reach the Norwegian capital in time for the ceremony.
"I will be in Oslo, I am on my way to Oslo right now," Machado told Nobel Committee leader Joergen Watne Frydnes, in an audio recording released by the Norwegian Nobel Institute.
It was unclear where she was calling from.
"We don't know exactly when she will land, but sometime in the course of the night," the institute's director, Kristian Berg Harpviken, told Reuters.
"Freedom is conquered every day as long as we are ready to fight for her. This is the reason why the cause of Venezuela transcends our borders," she said in the transcript of her prepared speech.
"A people that chooses to be free not only liberates itself, it contributes to the whole of humanity."
In her speech, Machado said Venezuelans did not realise in time that their country was sliding into what she described as a dictatorship.
"When we understood how fragile our institutions had become, it was already too late," Machado said.
Referring to the late President Hugo Chavez, who was elected in 1999 and held power until his death in 2013, she said: "When the ringleader of a military coup against democracy was elected president, many thought that charisma could substitute the rule of law."
"Since 1999, the regime has dedicated itself to dismantle our democracy."
President Nicolas Maduro, in power since 2013, says U.S. President Donald Trump is trying to overthrow him to gain access to Venezuela's vast oil reserves and that Venezuelan citizens and armed forces will resist any such attempt.
In 2024, Machado was barred from running in the presidential election despite having won the opposition's primary by a landslide. She went into hiding in August 2024 after authorities expanded arrests of opposition figures following the disputed vote.
The electoral authority and top court declared President Nicolas Maduro the winner, but international observers and the opposition say its candidate handily won and the opposition has published ballot box-level tallies as evidence of its victory.
When Machado won the Nobel Peace Prize in October, she dedicated it in part to Trump, who has said he himself deserved the honour.
She has aligned herself with hawks close to Trump who argue that Maduro has links to criminal gangs that pose a direct threat to U.S. national security, despite doubts raised by the U.S. intelligence community.
The Trump administration has ordered more than 20 military strikes in recent months against alleged drug-trafficking vessels in the Caribbean and off Latin America's Pacific coast.
Venezuela's armed forces are planning to mount a guerrilla-style resistance or sow chaos in the event of a U.S. air or ground attack, according to sources with knowledge of the efforts and planning documents seen by Reuters.
Human rights groups, some Democrats and several Latin American countries have condemned the attacks as unlawful extrajudicial killings of civilians.
Iran has warned it will retaliate against any future U.S. attacks, saying American energy interests and infrastructure across the Gulf could become...
Baku Climate Action Week (BCAW) 2026 has begun in Azerbaijan’s capital, bringing together government representatives, business leaders, inves...
Pakistan faces a fresh test over preferential access to one of its biggest export markets as the European Union introduces a new GSP+ framework fro...
An eruption of Indonesia’s Mount Anak Krakatau has disrupted air travel, school activities and fishing operations, with hundreds of passengers stranded at Jakarta’s main airport on Sunday.
At least five people were killed and five others injured when an Amazon Prime Air cargo plane overran a runway and crashed while landing at Miami International Airport on Sunday, 6 September, local officials said.
Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said on Sunday that the United States must recognise that the “rules of the game” in its war against Iran had changed “before it is too late”, a day after Washington struck several Iranian tankers in the Gulf.
Two Greek military pilots were killed on Saturday when an F-4 Phantom fighter jet crashed during an air show at Tanagra air base, north of Athens, officials said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin held more than three hours of talks with U.S. envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner in Moscow on efforts to end the Ukraine war.
U.S. special envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff have held talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv on Sunday on efforts to end Russia’s war in Ukraine.
A battle over the future of the European Union’s diplomatic service is deepening divisions over who controls the bloc’s foreign policy, as EU foreign affairs chief Kaja Kallas pushes back against plans to overhaul her service.
The Strait of Hormuz is moving into a more complicated stage of the U.S.-Iran war. Tehran says it will establish a new restricted maritime zone around the waterway, while Iran and Oman are preparing to formalise a separate shipping route intended to restore at least part of commercial traffic.
The European Union is preparing to boost investment in Greenland, as Brussels moves to deepen political and economic ties with the Arctic territory amid growing strategic competition involving the U.S., Russia and China.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has said a newly commissioned destroyer will become part of the country's nuclear response system, capable of delivering what he described as “annihilating retaliatory strikes”.
You can download the AnewZ application from Play Store and the App Store.
What is your opinion on this topic?
Leave the first comment