Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado has been awarded the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize "for her tireless work in promoting the democratic rights of the Venezuelan people and for her struggle to achieve a just and peaceful transition from dictatorship to democracy," the Norwegian Nobel Committee announced on October 10.
On Wednesday, the opposition leader thanked Panama's President José Raúl Mulino, Paraguay's President Santiago Peña, and U.S. Congresswoman María Elvira Salazar for accepting the invitation to receive the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo.
"As a Panamanian, as a president, and as a democrat, for me it is a great opportunity to be there, to support this woman, a symbol of the tenacious fight against a dictatorship that has that people of Venezuela oppressed, humiliated, and impoverished," declared Mulino during his weekly press conference.
However, the head of the Nobel Committee, Jørgen Watne Frydnes, told the public NRK channel that this is "a dangerous trip because the Venezuelan regime has said it wants to get rid of her." He said he hopes the opposition leader's security will be guaranteed so that she can travel to Norway and also return to the country.
"The leader has demonstrated that the tools of democracy are also the tools of peace," the committee emphasized, adding that the laureate embodies the hope for a different future, where the fundamental rights of citizens are protected and their voices are heard.
On Thursday, President José Raúl Mulino said it "will be a great honor" to attend the Nobel Peace Prize award ceremony for Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado on December 10 in Oslo, Norway.
"So it will be a great honor to share with other invited leaders at this important event," added Mulino, who had already announced on November 20 that he would accompany Machado, wishing that "hopefully she could be there" at the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony.
The Norwegian Nobel Committee recently stated that Machado has made it clear that she will travel to Oslo to receive the prize.
The head of state specified that he will travel to the Norwegian capital next Sunday afternoon, where the Nobel ceremony will take place on Wednesday, and will return to Panama very late Thursday night.
The award winner has been a key and unifying figure in an opposition that was once deeply divided, an opposition that found common ground in the demand for free elections and a representative government, the text adds.
