Why the Nobel Peace Prize won’t be collected by the winner this year

Nobel Peace Prize winner María Corina Machado won’t be collecting her award, with her daughter instead set to accept it on her behalf.

The Venezuelan opposition leader was awarded the highly coveted prize in October for her efforts to promote ‘democratic rights for the people of Venezuela’.

Each year, the Nobel Institute awards prizes across six categories: Physics, Chemistry, Physiology or Medicine, Literature, Economic Sciences and Peace.

The Nobel Prizes have been awarded 633 times to 1,026 people and organizations, with the Peace Prize given to those who ‘the person who shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity between the nations and the abolition or reduction of standing armies and the formation and spreading of peace congresses’, as per the Prize’s website.

Recipients usually attend a prestigious ceremony in Oslo, Norway, to celebrate their achievements. But it’s been confirmed that Machado now won’t be in attendance.

Maria Corina Machado was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize this year

Who is Maria Corina Machado?

Machado was in the running for president in Venezuela in 2023 ahead of their 2024 election; however, after achieving significant popularity, she was blocked from running by the country’s courts.

She went into hiding after the election, won by Nicolás Maduro, who is widely considered an authoritarian by most international bodies.

The election was widely disputed by the opposition, with Machado and her allies arguing that she actually won.

While the 58-year-old has been spotted twice in public since going into hiding, her whereabouts are unknown. Her own country’s government said Machado would be considered a ‘fugitive’ if she left Venezuela.

Tarek William Saab, the country’s attorney general, told AFP last month: “By being outside Venezuela and having numerous criminal investigations, she is considered a fugitive,” adding that she is accused of ‘acts of conspiracy, incitement of hatred, terrorism’.

Machado was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for ‘her tireless work promoting democratic rights for the people of Venezuela and for her struggle to achieve a just and peaceful transition from dictatorship to democracy’, the committee said.

Why will Machado not attend the Nobel Peace Award ceremony?

The Nobel Institute had previously said she would attend Wednesday’s ceremony (December 10) in person; however, on Tuesday, it admitted it did not know ‘when or how’.

They said in a statement (via the BBC): “María Corina Machado has herself stated in interviews how challenging the journey to Oslo, Norway will be. We therefore cannot at this point provide any further information about when and how she will arrive for the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony.”

However, Kristian Berg Harpviken, the Institute’s director, told Norway’s NRK radio that she wouldn’t be attending due to severe security threats, adding: “She simply lives with a death threat from the regime. That threat also applies when she is outside the country.”

Machado won the award for her ‘tireless work promoting democratic rights for the people of Venezuela’

Since the Nobel Institute has confirmed that Machado’s daughter, Ana Corina Sosa, will collect the prize on her behalf, with Harpviken adding that she ‘will give the speech that María Corina herself wrote’.

The Norwegian Nobel Institute also said that she had ‘done everything in her power to come to the ceremony today’ as she journeys ‘in a situation of extreme danger’, adding: “Although she will not be able to reach the ceremony and today’s events, we are profoundly happy to confirm that she is safe and that she will be with us in Oslo.”

Machado will become one of a handful of people in history to have a family collect the award on her behalf.

One of the most recent Peace Prize recipients to have others receive their award in person was Iranian human rights activist Narges Mohammadi.

Awarded in 2023, she was imprisoned in Iran and could not attend. In her place, Mohammadi’s 17-year-old twin daughters, Ali and Kiana Rahmani, received the medal and diploma and delivered her lecture at the Oslo City Hall ceremony.

In 2022, Belarusian human rights activist campaigner Ales Bialiatski was in jail and instead represented by his wife Natalia Pinchuk.