MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

US helped Machado escape Venezuela

Machado pledged to take her accolade ”to Venezuela at the appropriate time”

Venezuelan opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize laureate María Corina Machado confirmed on Thursday that she received assistance from the United States in her secret departure from the South American country after more than a year in hiding.

Machado arrived in the Norwegian capital early Thursday morning, hours after her daughter accepted the award on her behalf. Her first public appearances since August 2024 included press conferences and a visit to the Norwegian Parliament (Storting), marking her dramatic return to the global political stage.

“I believe that President [Donald] Trump's actions have been decisive to reach the point where we are right now, in which the regime is weaker than ever,” Machado told reporters. She has stepped back into the limelight as the Trump administration ramps up its pressure campaign against the Bolivarian regime.

The Nobel laureate emphasized the need to increase the pressure on Maduro's funding. ”You need to raise the cost of staying in power and lower the cost of leaving power. Only when you do that, this regime will break down,” she further argued.

When questioned about US military action, Machado did not explicitly endorse it but recalled that Venezuela was already compromised by foreign actors. “Venezuela has already been invaded. We have the Russian agents, we have the Iranian agents, we have terrorist groups such as Hezbollah, Hamas, operating freely in accordance with the regime,” she pointed out.

Machado declined to delve into the details of her escape, explaining she needed to protect the safety of her collaborators. However, she confirmed that the journey, which included a boat ride to the island of Curaçao and a flight with a technical stopover in the U.S., had US backing.

During her late-night arrival at the Grand Hotel, a traditional welcome site for Nobel laureates, a small but exuberant crowd of supporters erupted into cheers, chanting for ”freedom.“

Machado dedicated the prize to Venezuela's youth, noting that her daughter accepted the award as a representative of ”the new generation,“ which she believes is “prepared to give their lives to complete the work” of achieving democracy.

The disenfranchised leader acknowledged that she could face arrest if she returned to Venezuela under the current government, calling the risk of going back ”perhaps even higher“ than the risk she took to leave. However, she pledged to take her accolade ”to Venezuela at the appropriate time.”

Machado insisted that she and the team of retired diplomat Edmundo González Urrutia —whom she repeatedly referred to as “the president”— have “the plans and teams ready to take control from day one” once Maduro's regime falls.

Following her strenuous journey and year in hiding, Machado noted her immediate plans would focus on reconnecting with her three children, undergoing medical checkups, and resting.