Opposition leader Maria Corina Machado said on Thursday that she does not believe the Venezuelan government knew where she was hiding for most of this year, as she met Norway’s leader a day after her daughter received the Nobel Peace Prize on her behalf.
Ms Machado arrived in Oslo hours after Wednesday’s prize ceremony and made her first public appearance in 11 months in the early hours of Thursday.
She emerged from a hotel balcony and waved to an emotional crowd of supporters. She had been in hiding since January 9, when she was briefly detained after joining supporters in a protest in Caracas.
Ms Machado, 58, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in October after mounting the most serious peaceful challenge in years to the authoritarian government of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.
Her daughter, Ana Corina Sosa, accepted the prize in Oslo and said that Ms Machado “will be back in Venezuela very soon”.
On Thursday Ms Machado was received by Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store, who said his country is ready to support a democratic Venezuela in “building new and sound institutions”.
Asked whether the Venezuelan government might have known her whereabouts since January, Ms Machado told reporters: “I don’t think they have known where I have been, and certainly they would have done everything to stop me from coming here.”
