Machado Reappears in Oslo After Secret Extraction, Acknowledges U.S. Help

Overview

• The opposition leader reached Oslo after missing the Nobel ceremony, then greeted supporters in her first public appearance in nearly a year.
• She vowed to take the prize back to Venezuela and said she plans to return, while prosecutors have warned she would be treated as a fugitive.
• Machado said she received help from the U.S. government; reporting says U.S. forces were alerted to the boat leg to avoid a strike, and a U.S. veterans’ group says it ran the extraction.
• Accounts describe a disguise, passage through about 10 military checkpoints, a rough night crossing by small boat to Curaçao, and a private flight onward to Norway.
• Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello asserted the government knew of her departure and said “we put her in Europe,” a narrative disputed by Machado’s allies as she weighs next steps.