María Corina Machado confirmed that she will return to Venezuela and revealed what the emotional reunion with her family was like

“Of course I’m coming back. I’m going to be in the place where I can help our cause the most,” he told journalist Lucy Hockings in English. He recognized that knows “exactly the risks” which implies having left the country: “Until recently, the place where I thought I should be was Venezuela; the place where I think I should be today, in the name of our cause, is Oslo.”

In his first statements since arriving in the Norwegian capital, Machado – who has been living underground for almost a year – also revealed the personal impact of his forced departure. He said he missed the graduations and weddings of his daughter and one of his sons, and that the reunion in Oslo was moving.

“For more than 16 months I haven’t been able to hug or touch anyone. Suddenly, in a matter of hours, I have been able to see my loved ones, touch them, cry and pray together“he said.

In the interview with the BBC, she wore several rosaries hanging from her neck; He assured that they were gifts from followers who came to the hotel where he is staying.

Machado once again defined Nicolás Maduro’s regime “not as a conventional dictatorship, but as a criminal structure,” although he avoided answering whether he would support US military action in Venezuela. “We didn’t want a war, we didn’t look for it… It was Maduro who declared war on the Venezuelan people“, he simply said.

His departure from the country remains shrouded in mystery. The Wall Street Journal reported that the leader secretly traveled aboard a boat to Curacao on Tuesday, citing US officials. She preferred not to confirm or dismantle that version: “The Venezuelan government says that I am a terrorist and that I have to spend the rest of my life in prison, and they look for me. So leaving Venezuela today, under these circumstances, is very, very dangerous.“.

“I just want to say that I am here because many men and women risked their lives so that I could reach Oslo,” he concluded.

Machado, 58, could not arrive in Norway in time to attend the Nobel Peace ceremony, whose award was received by his daughter Ana Corina Sosa. She arrived at night and after 2 a.m. this Thursday in Oslo, she went out to the hotel balcony to greet the Venezuelans who were waiting for her with flags. He received a standing ovation and sang the national anthem, in his first public appearance since January, when he participated in a march rejecting Maduro’s swearing-in for a new presidential term.

Then she went down to the street, where the crowd surrounded her as if she were a rock star. “Freedom!”, “Brave!”, “Mary, help us return!” was heard as they broke the calm of the Norwegian capital. Some played the cuatro, the traditional Venezuelan instrument, and sang popular songs while shouting slogans for a “free Venezuela.”