OSLO: Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado will do her best to return to Venezuela to end the “tyranny” in the country, she said on Thursday (Dec 11) as she seized the spotlight in Oslo after nearly a year in hiding.
Machad, who vanished in January after challenging the rule of President Nicolas Maduro, first emerged on a hotel balcony in the Norwegian capital to cheering supporters early on Thursday after an escape from Venezuela shrouded in mystery.
At a press conference, she thanked those who “risked their lives” to get her to Oslo. It was unclear how she made her way to Norway, or how she will return after Venezuela said it would consider her a fugitive if she left the country.
Earlier, Machado told reporters outside the Norwegian parliament that she would do her “best” to go back.
“I came to receive the prize on behalf of the Venezuelan people and I will take it back to Venezuela at the correct moment,” she said.
“I will not say when that is or how it’s going to be,” she added, but said she wanted “to end with this tyranny very soon and have a free Venezuela”.
In a separate interview, she told the BBC: “I know exactly the risks I’m taking.”
“I’m going to be in the place where I’m most useful for our cause,” she added. “Until a short time ago, the place I thought I had to be was Venezuela, the place I believe I have to be today, on behalf of our cause, is Oslo.”
Machado first appeared on a balcony of the Grand Hotel in the middle of the night, waving and blowing kisses to supporters chanting “libertad” (“freedom”) below.
On the ground, she climbed over metal barriers to get closer to her supporters, many of whom hugged her and presented her with rosaries.
She said she has missed much of her children’s lives while hiding, including graduations and weddings.
“For over 16 months I haven’t been able to hug or touch anyone,” she said in the BBC interview. “Suddenly, in the matter of a few hours, I’ve been able to see the people I love the most, and touch them and cry and pray together.”
The Nobel Institute said Machado did “everything in her power to come to the ceremony”, undertaking a journey of “extreme danger”.
Her daughter collected the prestigious award on her behalf, delivering a stinging rebuke of “state terrorism” under Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro.
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