Venezuelan opposition leader Machado defies travel ban to claim Nobel prize in Oslo

After more than a year mostly spent in hiding and in defiance of a decade-long travel ban, Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado arrived in Norway on Thursday, hours after a ceremony to award her the Nobel Peace Prize.

The head of the Norwegian Nobel Committee confirmed Machado had arrived.

Machado, 58, has been banned by the government of President Nicolas Maduro from leaving Venezuela since 2014, and an acceptance speech was delivered on Wednesday in her absence by her daughter.

The Norwegian Nobel Committee awarded the prize to Machado for her fight against what it called a dictatorship.

-Gwladys Fouche/Reuters