María Corina Machado, radical Venezuelan opposition leader who just won the Nobel Peace Prize. She has since left Oslo after enjoying, and participating in, all the grandeur of this prestigious ceremony. Her spokesman, Pedro Urruchurtu Noselli, cited by the news agency Reuters, confirmed that she is out of the city for good. Machado’s journey to receiving the honor was filled with immense adversity and dangerous conditions.
Machado in fact spent 11 months in hiding inside Venezuela. Her life and freedom were most acutely threatened because she fearlessly and unapologetically lambasted President Nicolás Maduro. She fled in a dramatic act of defiance. Her perilous odyssey brought her by ship and private airplane to Norway’s doorstep.
She landed in Norway on December 10, where she was finally reunited with her daughter after over two years of separation. It was Machado’s first public appearance in nearly a year. From the balcony of the Grand Hotel in Oslo she waved at her jubilant supporters.
It was a difficult path, extracting a physical cost that Machado found difficult to bear. She’s still recovering from a fracture of her T5 vertebra that she suffered fleeing Venezuela. In Norway, she has been accompanied by representatives of our Norwegian partners as she has met with medical specialists to focus on her speedy recovery.
“In general, this is the most difficult, most high-profile and most delicate operation we have performed.” – Bryan Stern
Stern, a US special forces veteran, led the rescue team that was eventually able to smuggle Machado out of Venezuela. He admitted to the difficulty of the operation. Though the challenges she encountered were numerous, Machado is still determined to make her way back to Venezuela.
With conditions in her home country still very unstable, Machado’s return is watched with rapt attention. She symbolizes hope for many Venezuelans seeking change amid ongoing political unrest.
