Opposition leader María Corina Machado offered a message from Oslo, Norway, for Venezuelans in the United States uncertain about their futures, assuring them that her team was “working hard” for them.
Just a day after her dangerous journey to receive the Nobel Peace Prize, she answered a question from Telemundo 51’s Fausto Malavé, who asked if she had a message for Venezuelans in the U.S. undergoing stressful immigration situations. Temporary Protected Status, or TPS, for hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans was revoked in October, and despite appeals, the U.S. Supreme Court has already ruled that the Trump administration could terminate the legal protection.
“I love you so much,” Machado said in Spanish, with her hand on her chest. “I know how difficult these hours are. We’re working hard not only so you can be protected over there, but above all so you can come back to Venezuela feeling safe in your country. God bless you.”
She then embraced Malavé, who said in the caption of the video: “Included is a symbolic hug that she sends to all [Venezuelans in the U.S.] through me.”
Machado arrived in Oslo hours after Wednesday’s prize ceremony and made her first public appearance in 11 months in the early hours of Thursday, emerging from a hotel balcony and waving to an emotional crowd of supporters. She had been in hiding since Jan. 9, when she was briefly detained after joining supporters in a protest in Caracas.
Machado was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in October after mounting the most serious peaceful challenge in years to the Maduro’s authoritarian government. Her daughter, Ana Corina Sosa, accepted the prize in Oslo and said that Machado “will be back in Venezuela very soon.”
The politician, however, sidestepped questions during news conferences about whether a U.S. military intervention is necessary to remove Maduro from power. She told reporters she will return to Venezuela “when we believe the security conditions are right, and it won’t depend on whether or not the regime leaves.”
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