STORY: :: The Nobel committee's secretary says he is 'banking' on Maria Corina Machado attending Peace Prize celebrations
:: Oslo, Norway
:: December 9, 2025
:: Kristian Berg Harpviken, Secretary of the Norwegian Nobel Committee
"We will have a ceremony where we will honor the Nobel Peace Prize Laureate of the year, María Corina Machado. The Nobel lecture will be given. There will be a presentation by the chair of the committee, as there always is, and the rest of the celebratory program will also go as planned. Of course, I realize that there is some excitement about whether the laureate is arriving. She has said that she will be here for the celebrations. I don't know how she's traveling; I don't know when she's arriving, but I'm still banking on the fact that she will be here in time for the celebrations."
The Norwegian Nobel Committee awarded the prize to Machado for her fight against what it called a dictatorship.
The laureate "has herself stated in interviews how challenging the journey to Oslo, Norway will be," the Nobel Institute said in a statement.
The award ceremony is due to take place on Wednesday at 1 p.m. local-time (1200 GMT) at Oslo City Hall in the presence of King Harald, Queen Sonja and at least four Latin American heads of state, including Argentina's Javier Milei and Ecuador's Daniel Noboa.
