OSLO--The Norwegian Nobel Institute cancelled a planned press conference on Tuesday with this year's Peace Prize laureate, Venezuela's Maria Corina Machado, ahead of Wednesday's award ceremony in Oslo.
Machado, 58, has been subject to a decade-long travel ban imposed by the government of President Nicolas Maduro and has been in hiding for more than a year. The institute said it did not know Machado's current whereabouts.
"I know that she wants to come and that she is en route but that's all I know," said Kristian Berg Harpviken, the institute's director and permanent secretary to the award committee.
It is not yet clear if she will reach Oslo in time for the award ceremony, he added."We will make sure that it's a worthy ceremony that recognises this year's laureate, casting a spotlight on the situation in Venezuela and the importance democracy has for peace," he told public broadcaster NRK.
The award ceremony is due to take place on Wednesday at 1 p.m. 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.A press conference had originally been scheduled in Oslo for Tuesday, but was at first delayed to an unspecified time. The institute later said the event had been cancelled.
The laureate "has herself stated in interviews how challenging the journey to Oslo, Norway will be," the Nobel institute said in its statement.
