Decision does not affect the status of the Venezuelan far-right leader as winner of the award
The Norwegian Peace Council announced on Friday (24) that it will not organize the traditional torchlight procession through Oslo, the country’s capital, on the day of the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to Venezuelan María Corina Machado.
The decision, according to the press release, does not affect Machado’s status as winner of the prize, awarded by the Norwegian Nobel Committee, an independent body responsible for choosing the laureates.
“This is a difficult but necessary decision. We have great respect for the Nobel Committee and the Nobel Peace Prize as an institution, but as an organization we must also be true to our own principles and the broad peace movement that we represent. We look forward to celebrating the Nobel Peace Prize again in the coming years,” says Eline H. Lorentzen, chairman of the board.
The council informs that the decision was taken after a rigorous consultation process between the 17 peace organizations that make up the entity. The statement highlights that events, including the torchlight procession, have traditionally been a way to highlight and celebrate work that promotes solidarity, justice, equality and understanding across cultural and political differences.
“The Norwegian Peace Council will continue its work for peace, disarmament, dialogue and conflict resolution through non-violent methods and looks forward to highlighting future peace awards that reflect these values,” the public note states.
Support for coup
Winner of the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize and impeached deputy, Maria Corina Machado supported coups and armed intervention in Venezuela. In 2024, in the country’s presidential race, she was behind the campaign of Edmundo González Urrutia, Nicolás Maduro’s opponent. Machado’s political career, as well as his relationship with the coup, began much earlier, as published by Brasil de Fato in a retrospective of the career of the current leader of the Venezuelan far right.
In 2008, Machado supported the lightning coup d’état that overthrew then-president Hugo Chávez for 48 hours. During those two days, she was one of 300 people who signed the anti-democratic document known as the Carmona Decree, in reference to the coup businessman who proclaimed himself president.
The document determined the closure of Congress, the dismissal of the Supreme Court and the suspension of legal guarantees for the population, which did not accept the coup and supported Chávez’s return to office.
In her political career, Corina has already called for foreign intervention, going so far as to appeal directly to the Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, responsible for the genocide in Gaza, to “liberate” Venezuela with bombs in the name of “freedom”. Machado demanded sanctions, that silent form of war whose effects — as shown by studies published in The Lancet and other journals — killed more people than the war itself, by cutting off access to medicine, food and energy for entire populations.
In 2010, Machado was elected as deputy for the State of Miranda, but did not finish her term as she was impeached in 2014, after accepting a position as Panama’s ambassador to the OAS (Organization of American States), violating article 149 of the Venezuelan Constitution, which prevents public officials from accepting positions from foreign governments without Parliament’s authorization.
In 2019, the Venezuelan opposition led by Corina supported Juan Guaidó’s self-proclamation as the country’s “interim president”, following the “maximum pressure” strategy of US President Donald Trump’s first term.
US sanctions against the oil industry were aimed at creating economic and political chaos to force Maduro out. Maria Corina Machado supported Guaidó throughout the “interim” period and began to openly defend “foreign military intervention” in Venezuela. The strategy defended by Corina is similar to that adopted by the Bolsonaro family, which through Eduardo Bolsonaro influences the White House to launch commercial attacks against Brazil.
Despite the coup leader’s history, the Norwegian Nobel Committee awarded her the Nobel Peace Prize, claiming that the leader of the Venezuelan far right is a “symbol of the democratic struggle”.
Originally published by Brasil de Fato on 10/25/2025
Editing: Camila Salmazio
Source: https://www.ocafezinho.com/2025/10/27/conselho-noruegues-da-paz-cancela-cerimonia-do-nobel-de-maria-corina-por-fidelidade-aos-principios/
