Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado made her first public appearance in 11 months in Norway on Thursday as her daughter accepted the Nobel Peace Prize on her behalf.

Machado has been in hiding since January 9, when she was briefly detained after joining supporters in Venezuela’s capital, Caracas. She was recognized after launching a peaceful challenge to the government of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.

The crowd chanted “Freedom!” Machado took to a hotel balcony in Oslo, Norway, to wave to her supporters before joining them in singing the Venezuelan national anthem.

In a recording of a phone call posted on the Nobel website, Machado said she was unable to get to Oslo in time for the ceremony but that many people “risked their lives” to get her there.

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Nobel Peace Prize winner Maria Colina Machado waves at the Grand Hotel in Oslo, Norway, on December 11, 2025. (Lise Åserud/NTB Scanpix via AP)

“I’m so grateful to them and it’s a measure of what this recognition means to the Venezuelan people,” she said.

Her daughter Ana Corina Sosa accepted the Nobel Prize on her behalf and said her mother “wanted to live in a free Venezuela” and “will never give up on this goal.”

“That’s why we all know, and I know, that she will be back in Venezuela soon,” Sosa added.

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On December 10, at the Nobel Peace Prize Award Ceremony held at the Oslo City Hall in Norway, the daughter of Nobel Peace Prize winner Ana Corinna Sousa accepted the award on behalf of her mother, Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corinna Machado. (Ole Berg-Rusten/NTB Scanpix, Pool via AP)

Outside the hotel, Machado interacted and hugged people in the crowd, who took photos and chanted “President! President!”

“I want you all to come back to Venezuela,” Machado said.

Machado appears after President Donald Trump It was announced on Wednesday that the United States had seized a Venezuelan oil tanker, a move that could further strain relations with Maduro’s government, which is already under widespread U.S. sanctions targeting the country’s oil industry.

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Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado makes a gesture during a protest ahead of Friday’s inauguration of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro for his third term in Caracas, Venezuela, January 9, 2025. (Reuters/Maxwell Briseno)

Since September, US military launches military strike At least 22 attacks targeted suspected drug traffickers near Venezuela, killing 87 people. Trump also recently said Maduro’s “days are numbered” and refused to rule out ground action in Venezuela.

Steve Yates, senior fellow for China and national security policy at the Heritage Foundation, told “Fox News @ Nightly” on Wednesday. Machado’s access overseas It’s an opportunity to gain “more international support” for her cause, adding that Trump might benefit from more U.S. allies in Europe supporting a “no invasion” approach.

The Venezuelan opposition leader has previously been outspoken in his support for Trump administration actions Oppose the Maduro regime and the country’s drug trafficking networks.

After awarding the prize in October, the newly elected Nobel Peace Prize winner dedicated the award to Trump and “the suffering people of Venezuela.”

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On September 2, 2025, a Venezuelan ship was destroyed in a U.S. military strike against Venezuela. (@realDonaldTrump via Truth Social)

Machado said in an interview on “Fox & Friends Weekend” last month that Venezuela was on the “threshold of freedom,” underlined her new “liberty manifesto” that envisions a future without the Maduro regime.

Fox News Digital’s Morgan Phillips and The Associated Press contributed to this report.