International news
Published on Thursday, December 11, 2025
By the A.M. Costa Rica staff

Venezuelan opposition leader and newly named Nobel Peace Prize laureate María Corina Machado, 58, appeared publicly Thursday in Oslo, Norway, for the first time in 11 months after a daring escape from Venezuela aided by the United States, according to a report by The Wall Street Journal.

The Journal reported that Machado left Venezuela on Monday, passing through 10 military checkpoints without being detected. She then traveled to Curaçao on Tuesday. Her route through the Caribbean Sea was considered dangerous due to the threat of attacks in the area.

Members of the group assisting Machado contacted the U.S. military to prevent an accidental strike on her vessel. They alerted U.S. forces that she would be traveling through a specific area so the boat would not be targeted.

According to the Journal, a pair of U.S. Navy F-18s flew into the Gulf of Venezuela and circled for about 40 minutes, coinciding with Machado’s travel. Two additional people were aboard the fishing skiff that carried her across the sea.

 

Once in Curaçao, Machado was met by a private contractor provided by the U.S. who specializes in extractions and assisted in getting her to Oslo. She arrived in the Norwegian capital on Wednesday, the Journal reported.


On Thursday, she exited Oslo’s Grand Hotel and waved to an emotional crowd of supporters celebrating the new Nobel laureate.


Her appearance came just hours after her daughter accepted the Nobel Peace Prize on her behalf.


Machado received the award for mounting one of the most serious peaceful challenges in years to the authoritarian government of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.

In an interview with the BBC, Machado said she fully intends to return to Venezuela despite the risks.

“Of course I’m going back,” 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.”

In October, Costa Rica was one of the first countries to congratulate Machado on receiving the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize. “This international recognition highlights her courageous commitment to defending human rights, promoting democracy, and tirelessly fighting against oppression in Venezuela,” Costa Rica’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement.

Machado has long been one of the most vocal critics of Maduro’s United Socialist Party of Venezuela, or PSUV, which first rose to power under former President Hugo Chávez in the late 1990s. Maduro took office in 2013 following Chávez’s death.

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How can Venezuelans achieve a democratic transition if President Maduro maintains the support of the military? We would like to know your thoughts on this story. Send your comments to news@amcostarica.com