Venezuelans divided on Machado peace prize, return home

CARACAS: Venezuelans stood divided Wednesday on the Nobel Peace Prize awarded to opposition leader Maria Corina Machado and on whether she should return home from Oslo.

Supporters were hopeful she will come back to continue leading the political resistance to President Nicolas Maduro, whose last two re-elections were widely dismissed as fraudulent.

But detractors labeled her a traitor for backing US actions against Maduro’s regime, and said she would be better off in exile.

Machado, who had been in hiding in Venezuela for over a year after Maduro’s disputed July 2024 re-election, traveled to Norway but missed the Nobel ceremony.

Her daughter Ana Corina Sosa Machado accepted the peace prize on her behalf Wednesday.

Nobel officials said Machado was “safe” and would reach Oslo by Thursday at the latest, when she is to hold a press conference.

Her daughter has insisted Machado would return to Venezuela despite arrest fears. Machado’s former campaign manager also insisted there was “no chance” of her taking up exile.

Alirio Villegas, a 78-year-old pensioner in Caracas, told AFP if it were him, he would stay away.

“It’s hard to see her coming back. This country is tough,” he said. “But she has to return… she’s the one leading us. If she leaves, what will we do? She’s the one the country wants.”

For Jazmin Briceno, a 45-year-old teacher, the peace prize was “a good step forward” for Venezuela even as it contends with an economic crisis, mass emigration and fears of US military action against leftist Maduro.

“She’s Venezuelan and she has the right to come back; they can’t prevent it. We’re waiting for her here,” Briceno told AFP.