The 2025 Nobel Peace Prize laureate warns that a dictatorship doesn't happen overnight and that in her country it was “too late” when people realized what was happening

Democracies must be prepared to fight for freedom in order to survive, Nobel Peace Prize laureate Maria Corina Machado said on Wednesday in a speech delivered by her daughter during the ceremony in Oslo organized by the Nobel Institute, reports Reuters.

The Venezuelan opposition leader said that the award given to her on October 10 this year has a deep meaning, not only for her country, but for the whole world.

“He reminds the world that democracy is essential for peace,” she said through her daughter, Ana Corina Sosa Machado. “And most importantly, the lesson that Venezuelans can share with the world is a lesson forged on a long and difficult road: if we want democracy, we must be prepared to fight for freedom.”

A 58-year-old engineer, Machado was due to receive the award in person at Oslo City Hall in the presence of King Harald, defying a travel ban imposed by her country's authorities and after more than a year in hiding.

But she didn't make it to the Norwegian capital in time for the ceremony.

“I'll be in Oslo, I'm on my way to Oslo right now,” Machado told Nobel Committee chairman Joergen Watne Frydnes in an audio recording released by the Norwegian Nobel Institute, but it was unclear where he was calling from.

“We don't know exactly when it will land, but sometime during the night,” Norwegian Nobel Institute director Kristian Berg Harpviken, who revealed earlier on Wednesday that she would not ultimately arrive to pick up the award in person, told Reuters.

The Nobel Laureate says that the fight for freedom is a daily one

“Freedom is conquered every day as long as we are prepared to fight for it. This is why the cause of Venezuela transcends our borders,” she said through her daughter's voice.

“A people that chooses to be free not only frees itself, but contributes to all of humanity,” Machado emphasized.

Machado announced his candidacy for the presidency in Venezuela's elections last year. But the authorities forbade her to run, and she then decided to support the alternative candidate of the opposition, Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia. The electoral authority and the supreme court in Caracas declared President Nicolas Maduro the winner, but international observers and the opposition say Urrutia won decisively. Among other things, the opposition published detailed results at the level of each polling station as evidence of its victory.

But the Maduro regime claimed its presidential victory and tightened its grip on power, violently cracking down on protests that followed the presidential vote. Machado decided to go into hiding amid escalating violence against the opposition.

Maria Corina Machado says it was 'too late' when Venezuelans realized their country was becoming a dictatorship

In her speech, Machado said Venezuelans did not realize in time that their country was sliding into what she described as a dictatorship.

“By the time we understood how fragile our institutions had become, it was already too late,” Machado said.

Referring to former President Hugo Chavez, elected in 1999 and in power until his death in 2013, she said: “When the leader of a military coup against democracy was elected president, many believed that charisma could replace the rule of law.”

“Since 1999, the regime has been dedicated to dismantling our democracy,” she charged.

President Nicolas Maduro, in power since 2013, says US President Donald Trump is trying to topple him to gain access to Venezuela's vast oil reserves and that Venezuelan citizens and the armed forces will resist any such attempt.

Venezuela's armed forces are planning to launch a guerrilla-style resistance or sow chaos in the event of a US air or ground attack, according to sources familiar with the effort and planning documents seen by Reuters.

A Nobel Peace Prize dedicated to Trump

When Machado won the Nobel Peace Prize in October, she dedicated it in part to Trump, who said he himself deserved the award.

She aligned herself with those close to Trump, considered “hawks” on foreign policy. They argue that Maduro has ties to criminal networks that pose a direct threat to US national security, despite doubts expressed by the US intelligence community.

The Trump administration has ordered more than 20 military strikes in recent months against suspected drug-trafficking vessels in the Caribbean Sea and off the Pacific coast of Latin America.

Human rights organizations, some politicians in the US Democratic Party and several Latin American countries condemned the attacks as illegal extrajudicial executions of civilians.