The daughter of María Corina Machado, the winner of this year’s Nobel Peace Prize, has said her mother is determined to live in a free Venezuela and would “never give up on that purpose” as she accepted her mother’s award.
The Venezuelan opposition leader was “safe” and will travel to Oslo, the Nobel Institute said, but was unable to make the awards ceremony scheduled for 12:00 GMT on Wednesday.
Her daughter, Ana Corina Sosa, accepted the award on her mother’s behalf and delivered a lecture written by her at the ceremony in Oslo’s City Hall.
The Nobel Institute awarded Machado the prize for “her struggle to achieve a just and peaceful transition from dictatorship to democracy” in Venezuela.election on July 28, 2024, saw widespread repression, including disqualifications, arrests and human rights violations. That increased after the country’s National Electoral Council, which is stacked with Maduro loyalists, declared the incumbent the winner.
González, who sought asylum in Spain last year after a Venezuelan court issued a warrant for his arrest, attended Wednesday’s ceremony.
U.N. human rights officials and many independent rights groups have expressed concerns about the situation in Venezuela, and called for Maduro to be held accountable for the crackdown on dissent.
‘Fight for freedom’
“More than anything, what we Venezuelans can offer the world is the lesson forged through this long and difficult journey — that to have democracy, we must be willing to fight for freedom,” Sosa said as she delivered the lecture written for the occasion by her mother.
