A multitude of Venezuelans gathered in Buenos Aires and more than eighty cities worldwide under the slogan 'the Nobel is ours' to express their support for opposition leader María Corina Machado on the eve of the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony, scheduled for December 10 in Oslo, Norway. In the Argentine capital, the 'March for Peace and Freedom' took place in front of the Law School and was attended by former Minister of Security and current Senator, Patricia Bullrich. According to the Argentine News Agency, other cities and provinces that joined the international initiative, which included over twenty countries in the Americas and Europe, were La Plata, Rosario, Mendoza, Córdoba, Río Gallegos, and Puerto Madryn. After weeks of uncertainty about her attendance, the director of the Nobel Institute, Kristian Berg Harpviken, confirmed that the opposition leader will travel next week to receive her prize. 'I have been in contact with Mrs. Machado tonight and she confirmed that she will be in Oslo for the ceremony,' he assured, although he clarified: 'Given the security situation, we cannot give more details about the date and manner in which she will come.' Machado and Edmundo González Urrutia, Nicolás Maduro's rival in the latest presidential elections, warned in a joint statement that the death reveals a 'sustained pattern of state repression.' The death of Díaz adds 'to an alarming and painful chain of deaths of political prisoners detained in the context of the post-electoral repression of July 28,' they added in the statement, naming other opposition figures who have died in prison. Ahead of the march, Machado appeared on social media with a message highlighting the significance of the gathering. 'It is a recognition that calls on us to be even firmer to complete the task and achieve the freedom of Venezuela,' she stated. She added that 'the Nobel is a recognition of our democratic struggle, citizen organization, the ability to remain standing in the face of oppression, and our conviction that Venezuela was born free and our families are meant to live united.' Finally, she asked her followers: 'While the regime tries to hide this incredible achievement, this recognition that the world gives us, we are going to light up a light in the main cities of the world'.
