Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado was absent Wednesday from the ceremony in Norway in which she was to receive this year’s Nobel Peace Prize award, but confirmation that she was traveling to Europe elicited mixed feelings in her country, where many backed her precisely because she had not left her homeland.

Machado’s daughter accepted the award on her behalf in a ceremony that became a rally for democracy, and equally, an indictment of Venezuela’s government, with attendees hearing in detail documented human rights abuses carried out against real or perceived opponents of President Nicolás Maduro.

“She wants to live in a free Venezuela, and she will never give up on that purpose,” Ana Corina Sosa told the audience in Oslo before reading her mother’s prepared remarks.

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