Nobel Peace Prize winner María Corina Machado visited the Norwegian Parliament this Thursday (11), where she stated that the world supports the Venezuelan opposition and that she hopes to return to her country soon to share the award with her compatriots.
“The world is with us, we are not alone. This is a definitive moment”, Machado declared to the media, according to the Norwegian agency NTB, after being received with a hug by the president of the Norwegian Parliament, Masud Gharahkhani.
“I’m very happy, very honored and very grateful to everyone in Norway,” she added, explaining that several people risked their lives so she could travel to the Norwegian capital.
“This recognition belongs to them and I will soon be able to take it home. So, thank you very much”, added the Venezuelan opposition leader, who after landing in Oslo at dawn, greeted her supporters from the balcony of the Grand Hotel and sang the Venezuelan national anthem with them.
The opponent also denounced that the Venezuelan police are stopping young people on the streets and detaining them if they find news about the Nobel Prize on their cell phones.
Furthermore, she denounced that her country “has already been invaded” by Russian and Iranian agents, terrorist groups such as Hezbollah, and cartels that operate freely in collusion with Chavismo.
In turn, Gharahkhani commented that, for Machado, who lives in Venezuela in an unknown location and has not been seen in public since January of this year, it was a “long and dangerous” trip, but that, despite all the difficulties, she undertook it because she wants to “give a voice to the people of Venezuela”.
“It’s a prize for her, but it’s also a prize for the people of Venezuela, where elections were held in which they called for a change that was not accepted by the brutal regime”, highlighted the president of the Norwegian Parliament, in reference to the dictatorship of Nicolás Maduro.
Regarding criticism of Machado’s choice for the Nobel Prize, Gharahkhani pointed out that the Nobel Peace Prize is always controversial, but that it is necessary to recognize the fight that the opponent is waging.
Although Machado did not arrive in time for the handover ceremony this Wednesday, where her acceptance speech was read by her daughter Ana Corina Sosa, the opposition leader is expected to speak to the media this Thursday along with the Norwegian Prime Minister, Jonas Gahr Store, and later hold a press conference.