Sawt Falasteen - Nobel laureate Machado says US helped her leave Venezuela, vows return

Machado, who vanished in January after challenging the rule of President Nicolas Maduro, emerged on a hotel balcony in Oslo to cheering supporters early Thursday after several days of confusion over her whereabouts.

"We did get support from the United States government to get here," Machado told a press conference when asked by AFP about whether Washington had helped.

The Wall Street Journal reported that she wore a wig and a disguise on the high-risk journey, leaving her hide-out in a Caracas suburb on Monday for a coastal fishing village, where she took a fishing skiff across the Caribbean Sea to Curacao.

The newspaper said the US military was informed to avoid the boat being targeted by airstrikes. Once on the island, she took a private jet to Oslo early on Wednesday.

Machado thanked those who "risked their lives" to get her to Norway but it was not immediately clear how or when she will return to Venezuela, which has said it would consider her a fugitive if she left.

"Of course, the risk of going back, perhaps it's higher, but it's always worthwhile. And I'll be back in Venezuela, I have no doubt," she added.

Machado has been hailed for her fight for democracy but also criticised for aligning herself with US President Donald Trump, to whom she has dedicated her Nobel, and for inviting foreign intervention in her country.

- Military build-up -

The United States has launched a military build-up in the Caribbean in recent weeks and deadly strikes on what Washington says are drug-smuggling boats.

"I believe every country has the right to defend themselves," Machado told reporters Thursday.

"I believe that President Trump's actions have been decisive to reach the point where we are right now, in which the regime is weaker than ever, because the regime previously thought that they could do anything," she continued.

Late Wednesday, Trump said the United States had seized a "very large" oil tanker near Venezuela, which Caracas denounced as "blatant theft".

Maduro maintains that US operations are aimed at toppling his government and seizing Venezuela's oil reserves.

Machado first appeared on a balcony of the Grand Hotel in the middle of the night, waving and blowing kisses to supporters chanting "libertad" ("freedom") below.

On the ground, she climbed over metal barriers to get closer to her supporters, many of whom hugged her and presented her with rosaries.

She said she has missed much of her children's lives while hiding, including graduations and weddings.

- ' Political risk' -

Machado won the Peace Prize for "her struggle to achieve a just and peaceful transition from dictatorship to democracy".

She has accused Maduro of stealing Venezuela's July 2024 election, from which she was banned -- a claim backed by much of the international community.

The decision to leave Venezuela and join the Nobel festivities in Oslo comes at both personal and political risk.

"She risks being arrested if she returns even if the authorities have shown more restraint with her than with many others, because arresting her would have a very strong symbolic value," said Benedicte Bull, a professor specialising in Latin America at the University of Oslo.

While Machado is the " undisputed" leader of the opposition, "if she were to stay away in exile for a long time, I think that would change and she would gradually lose political influence," Bull said.

In her acceptance speech read by one of her daughters Wednesday, Machado denounced kidnappings and torture under Maduro's tenure, calling them "crimes against humanity" and "state terrorism, deployed to bury the will of the people".

S.AbuJamous--SF-PST