PHOTO FEATURE: The new Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Maria Corina Machado arrived in Oslo in the wee small hours of Thursday, too late for the prize ceremony the day before but full of energy and gratitude. She quickly made up for lost time, even in the middle of the night.
After a long and dangerous journey from her homeland, where her life is in danger for refusing to support Venezuela’s brutal regime, Machado landed in Oslo at around 2am, several hours after Wednesday night’s annual Nobel Banquet in her honour was also over. She headed straight for the Oslo hotel where it’s always held, though, and had an emotional reunion with exiled family members she hadn’t seen for years. Only then could she finally make the Nobel Laureate’s traditional appearance on the hotel’s balcony, to wave at supporters who’d remained in place despite the delay to catch a glimpse of her.
Clearly inspired by the cheering crowds below, who’d been waiting out in the cold for hours, Machado then impulsively headed outside and crossed Oslo’s main bouldevard to greet and thank them in person. Still casually dressed and straight from the airport, she held out her arms and headed straight for them, as security guards scrambled to keep up with her. Police had decided to keep security fences in place because of all the people who’d refused to leave the area.
The security barriers set up didn’t stop Machado from literally reaching out to her supporters, and she later climbed over them. She remained under the watchful eye of some anxious security guards, but there were no incidents and the mood was good.
The secretary to the the Norwegian Nobel Committee (left), Kristian Berg Harpviken, could only smile along with Machado’s daughter Ana, who had stepped in for her mother to deliver her speech at the Peace Prize ceremony the day before. In the center is Jørgen Watne Frydnes, who also spoke at the ceremony in his position as leader of the Norwegian Nobel Committe that decides on prize winners. In the background is the Norwegian Parliament, which Machado visited later in the day.
There was also a mother-and-daughter reunion as the crowds looked on in the dark early morning hours. Ana Corina Sosa Machado (left), now living in exile in the US, had mentioned several times during the course of cancelled Nobel events on Tuesday Wednesday how much she’d looked forward to seeing her mother again. The younger Machado had not only formally accepted this year’s Nobel Peace Prize that was awarded to her mother in October, she made some remarks of her own at the internationally broadcast Peace Prize ceremony and read the speech her mother had prepared.
After a few hours of sleep, Machado was on the move again on Thursday, visiting the Norwegian Parliament that’s also just across the street from the prize-winners’ hotel. There she met with both its president, the leader of its defense and foreign affairs committee, and several others. She expressed her admiration and respect for Norway’s parliamentary system and democracy, calling it a model for what she hopes will someday replace Venezuela’s current dictatorship.
Then she was driven the short distance to the prime minister’s residence, located just behind the Royal Palace downtown, for a meeting with Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre and a joint press conference. “We waited for you,” Støre told her with a smile, before stressing that while the Nobel Committee “makes its own choice” of Peace Prize laureates, he fully supported the choice of her this year. “It’s all about fighting for your fundamental human rights,” Støre said, while noting that her own struggle for democracy and peace “has cost you a lot.”
Machado, speaking once again without any script or teleprompters, responded that she was “very hopeful” that Venezuela will be free, and that peace only comes with freedom and democracy. “You have to fight for freedom, and defend it when you’ve got it,” she said. Støre promised support for democracy efforts in Venezuela.
She also visited the nearby Norwegian Nobel Institute on Thursday, where she could finally meet the Norwegian Nobel Committee that awarded her prize and pose with its leader Jørgen Watne Frydnes. She could also sign the institute’s famous guestbook of earlier Nobel Laureates, see all their photos on the wall of the committee room and where her own would soon be posted.
Formal events and rituals ended with a bigger, hastily convened press conference with international media back at the Grand Hotel. Frydnes seemed to discount political differences, noting how Machado also views freedom, democracy and peace as far more important. “We gather to defend democracy itself,” he said, and repeated how the democracy that comes with freedom “is the path to peace.”
Frydnes called Machado “one of the most outstanding examples of human courage.” There’s been criticism of his committee’s choice, given the US government’s recent military build-up off the coast of Venezuela. That doesn’t appear peaceful, especially when US forces have blown up small vessels sailing from Venezuela, killing at least 80 people suspected of transporting narcotics.
Machado said she and her supporters “are not involved at all” in the US government’s actions. Even though she initially dedicated her Peace Prize to US President Donald Trump, she didn’t mention his name at her press conferences and distanced herself from any US military intervention in Venezuela itself. She did, however, claim the country was already “invaded” by “Russian agents, Iranians, Colombian drug agents” who she claimed are supporting the regime of Nicolas Maduro.
She said she’ll now “be taking one day at a time.” She said she’ll be “going back to Venezuela regardless.” The next step “is to keep on rolling,” and be ready for any change that can restore democracy. Immediate plans called for some time with her family and former colleagues, who also are in exile but traveled to Oslo to meet her, and even a visit to a doctor because, she said, she hasn’t had a health check-up “for a long time.”
ALL PHOTOS: ©Nobel Prize Outreach-Jo Straube
TEXT: NewsinEnglish.no/Nina Berglund
