Venezuela says opposition leader will become fugitive if she collects Nobel

Venezuela’s opposition leader will be considered a “fugitive” if she travels to Norway to collect her Nobel Peace Prize, the nation’s attorney general has said.

Tarik William Saab told news agency AFP that María Corina Machado – who has been living in hiding to avoid arrest – was accused of “acts of conspiracy, incitement of hatred, and terrorism”.

The 58-year-old was named as the prestigious prize’s recipient in October, being praised for her efforts towards a “peaceful transition from dictatorship to democracy”.

She has long denounced President Nicolás Maduro’s government as “criminal” and called on Venezuelans to unite to depose it. Many nations view his rule as illegitimate.

Machado – who has long been one of the most respected voices in Venezuela’s opposition – was barred from running in last year’s presidential elections, in which Maduro won a third six-year term in office.

The elections were widely dismissed on the international stage as neither free nor fair, and sparked protests across the country.

Despite her barring, Machado was able to unite Venezuela’s opposition behind her little-known surrogate on the ballot, Edmundo González.

The government-controlled National Electoral Council declared Maduro the winner – even though tallies from polling stations showed that González had won by a landslide.

González later fled to Spain, fearing repression. This was followed by attempts to detain other opposition officials.

The Nobel Committee, when announcing the recipient of the prize at the Norwegian Nobel Institute in Oslo, hailed Machado as “one of the most extraordinary examples of civilian courage in Latin America in recent times”.

Nobel chairman Jørgen Watne Frydnes said at the time he hoped Machado would be able to attend an award ceremony in Oslo on 10 December, but acknowledged the serious security situation she faced.

Machado expressed shock at winning the prize, saying: “I am just one person. I certainly do not deserve this.”

She added that it was the “achievement of a whole society”.

Among the leaders to congratulate her at the time was US President Donald Trump, who was also up for the award and whom tensions with Maduro’s government have become increasingly strained.

Attorney General Saab also said Machado was under investigation for her support of the deployment of US military forces in the Caribbean.

The Trump administration has launched an operation targeting boats, mostly in the Caribbean, it accuses of transporting drugs from South America to the US. More than 80 people have been killed in the strikes, most of whom were Venezuelan.

Trump has accused Maduro of being the leader of a drugs cartel, something the Venezuelan leader has denied.

Maduro has, in turn, accused Trump of trying to incite a war to gain control of Venezuela’s oil reserves, but recently said he was willing to hold face-to-face talks with representatives of the Trump administration.

Meanwhile, Machado has been trying to encourage the Venezuelan military to switch sides and turn on Maduro, outlining her vision for a post-Maduro Venezuela in what she called a “freedom manifesto” in a video posted on Tuesday.

“We stand at the edge of a new era – one where our natural rights will prevail,” she told viewers.