BBC: Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado appeared in Oslo, Norway, after winning the Nobel Peace Prize, waving from the balcony of the Grand Hotel after months in hiding.
Machado made the covert journey despite a travel ban, and has mostly laid low since Venezuela’s disputed presidential election in 2024. She last appeared in public in January.
From the balcony on Wednesday with a crowd cheering below, Machado placed her hand on her heart and sang with her supporters, before walking outside to greet them in person.
Her daughter, Ana Corina Sosa, accepted the award on her mother’s behalf earlier in the day.
The Nobel Institute awarded Machado the Peace Prize this year for “her struggle to achieve a just and peaceful transition from dictatorship to democracy” in Venezuela.
Afterwards, Machado went outside to greet her supporters, who waited behind metal barricades on the street.
“Maria!” “Maria, here!” they shouted in Spanish, as many held their phones aloft to record the historic moment.
At one point, Machado climbed over the barriers to join them.
