Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado has vowed to go to Norway to pick up her Nobel Peace Prize, defying a warning from Caracas that she would be a fugitive if she did so.
The head of the Nobel Institute, Kristian Berg Harpviken, on Saturday said that Machado – who lives in hiding in her country – promised him she would make the ceremony, set to take place in Oslo on Wednesday.
“I was in contact with Machado last night [Friday] and she confirms that she will be in Oslo for the ceremony,” Harpviken said.
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“Given the security situation, we cannot say more about the date or how she will arrive.”
He added, on NRK radio, that “nothing is ever 100 per cent sure, but this is as certain as it can possibly be”.
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Venezuela’s attorney general, Tarek William Saab, said last month that Machado, 58, would be considered a “fugitive” if she travelled to Norway to accept the peace prize, which she was awarded on October 10.