Machado: ‘I will return to Venezuela, the place where I can be most useful to the cause’

Milan, 11 December (LaPresse) – Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, Nobel Peace Prize winner, said in an interview with the BBC after appearing for the first time in 11 months on the balcony of a hotel in Oslo that she will return to Venezuela. ‘Of course I will return’ and ‘I know exactly what risks I am taking,’ she said, ‘I will be where I can be most useful to our cause.’ ‘Until recently, I thought the place I needed to be was Venezuela, but the place I believe I need to be today, for the sake of our cause, is Oslo,’ she added. The BBC notes that during the interview she wore several rosaries around her neck, which she said had been given to her by supporters outside the hotel. ‘For over 16 months, I couldn’t hug or touch anyone,’ Machado added, ‘and suddenly, within a few hours, I was able to see the people I love most, touch them, cry and pray with them.’ Machado did not arrive in Oslo in time for the Nobel Prize award ceremony, which was accepted on her behalf by her daughter Ana Corina Sosa.