Considered one of the country’s most respected voices in Venezuela’s opposition, Machado has long denounced President Nicolás Maduro’s government as “criminal” and called on Venezuelans to unite to depose it.
She was barred from running in last year’s presidential elections, in which he won a third six-year term in office. The vote was widely dismissed on the international stage as neither free nor fair, and many nations view his rule as illegitimate.
The Maduro government has repeatedly threatened her with arrest, accusing her of calling for a foreign invasion and labelling her a terrorist for protesting against the election results.
Last month, Venezuela’s attorney general said Machado would be considered a fugitive if she travelled to Norway to collect her prize, saying she was accused of “acts of conspiracy, incitement of hatred, and terrorism”.
It made her journey to Norway difficult and risky.
The details of the trip were kept so tightly under wraps, that even the Nobel Institute did not know where she was or whether she would be in Oslo in time for the prize ceremony.
The Wall Street Journal, external reports that to escape Venezuela, Machado wore a disguise, managed to get through 10 military checkpoints without being caught, and sailed away on a wooden skiff from a coastal fishing village.
The plan was two months in the making, it reports, citing a person close to the operation, and she was assisted by a Venezuelan network that helps people flee the country. The US was also involved, the report says, but it is unclear to what extent.
Machado did not deny these details to the BBC, but also would not elaborate on the journey.
Asked at a news conference if US authorities helped her, Machado said: “Yes, we did get support from the United States government.”
“They [the Venezuelan government] say I’m a terrorist and have to be in jail for the rest of my life and they’re looking for me,” she said previously. “So leaving Venezuela today, in these circumstances, is very, very dangerous.
“I just want to say today that I’m here, because many men and women risked their lives in order for me to arrive in Oslo.”
