Nobel Peace Prize laureate Machado vows to bring award back to Venezuela

OSLO (Reuters) – Nobel Peace Prize laureate Maria Corina Machado said she planned to take her award back to Venezuela, but declined to say on Thursday when she would return to her home country after leaving in great secrecy to receive the honour.

Venezuelan opposition figure Machado arrived in Oslo early on Thursday, failing to reach the Norwegian capital in time for the prize ceremony held hours earlier. Events for her were also lined up for Thursday.

The 58-year-old engineer had secretly left Venezuela for Oslo in defiance of a decade-long travel ban imposed by authorities and after spending more than a year in hiding.

"I came to receive the prize on behalf of the Venezuelan people and I will take it back to Venezuela at the correct moment," she told reporters at parliament, dressed in white. "Of course I will not say when that is."

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She was due to hold a press conference with Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere later.

Following her late-night arrival, Machado greeted dozens of people from the balcony of Oslo's Grand Hotel, where Nobel laureates traditionally stay, waving and singing the Venezuelan national anthem along with the crowd.

She has aligned herself with hawks close to Trump who argue that Maduro has links to criminal gangs that pose a direct threat to US national security, despite doubts raised by the US intelligence community.

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

Sharply escalating tensions even further, Trump said on Wednesday the US has seized a sanctioned oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela in a move that sent oil prices higher.