Dozens of Venezuelans in Panama Join Global Marches for Peace and Freedom

Dozens of Venezuelans joined in Panama on Saturday in the global marches "for peace and freedom" in Venezuela, which were called for on Thursday by opposition leader and former deputy of the South American country María Corina Machado. "We are heeding the call of leader María Corina Machado, the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize laureate, to show the world that we are proud to have a Nobel laureate who has fought for peace, freedom, the hope not only of Venezuela, but of an entire region," Ricardo Contreras of the CONVZLA Panama Command told EFE. Machado was 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," announced the Norwegian Nobel Committee on October 10. This week, Machado reiterated on Thursday her call for Venezuelans around the world to march "for peace and freedom" in the country, a mobilization scheduled four days before the presentation in Norway of the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize, awarded to the former opposition deputy. The government of Paraguay announced this week that President Santiago Peña will travel to Norway to accompany Machado to receive the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize, as will the presidents of Panama, José Raúl Mulino, and Ecuador, Daniel Noboa. "This Saturday we have a great opportunity, we are going to ratify this message in the march for peace and freedom. While the regime (Government of Nicolás Maduro) tries to hide this incredible achievement, this recognition that the entire world is giving us Venezuelans, we are going to turn on a light in the main cities of the world," expressed Machado in a video posted on social networks. In this sense, the opposition leader stated that "it is no secret to anyone that there are approximately 9 million Venezuelans scattered around the world, a diaspora that has been forced to leave the country due to the situation we are experiencing, and we have organized for this (the global marches) in more than 20 countries and more than 130 cities." The Norwegian Nobel Committee declared on November 14 that Machado has made it clear that she will travel to Oslo to receive the prize. It is also expected to attend Venezuelan opposition leader Edmundo González Urrutia, exiled in Spain, who faced Nicolás Maduro in the July 2024 elections. Representatives of the community of the approximately more than 60,000 Venezuelans residing in Panama marched from one of the central sections of the coastal Cinta Costera that borders the Bay of Panama, to the Plaza de la Democracia at the entrance to the exclusive residential area of Paitilla, in the capital. The idea of this march "full of light, hope and joy" is to make a call for "hope, attention and to carry a light like the focus that guides us towards the freedom we are seeking," indicated Contreras.