Venezuelan opposition leader says US helped her travel to Norway to accept Nobel Prize

Nobel Peace Prize Laureate María Corina Machado waves to supporters as she walks through Oslo, on December 11, 2025. Odd Andersen/AFP/Getty Images

Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado said US government “support” helped her travel to collect her Nobel Peace Prize in Norway, hours after the US seized an oil tanker in a dramatic escalation of pressure against the authoritarian regime of Nicolás Maduro.

Machado, who has been in hiding following Venezuela’s disputed election last year, left on a fishing boat, according to the Wall Street Journal , after slipping through military checkpoints wearing a wig as a disguise. She then took a private jet to Norway. CNN has not independently confirmed the details of Machado’s travel. The US State Department declined to comment.

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