Nobel Peace Prize Winner Has Been in Hiding All Year

This year's Nobel Peace Prize winner, Venezuelan opposition activist Maria Corina Machado is a "key, unifying figure in a political opposition that was once deeply divided—an opposition that found common ground in the demand for free elections and representative government," Jørgen Watne Frydnes, chair of the Norwegian Nobel committee, said Friday. "This is precisely what lies at the heart of democracy, our shared willingness to defend the principles of popular rule, even though we disagree," he said, per the BBC. "At a time when democracy is under threat, it is more important than ever to defend this common ground."

"In the past year, Miss Machado has been forced to live in hiding," Frydnes said. "Despite serious threats against her life, she has remained in the country, a choice that has inspired millions. When authoritarians seize power, it is crucial to recognize courageous defenders of freedom who rise and resist."

• President Nicolás Maduro's government routinely targeted its real or perceived opponents ahead of last year's presidential election, the AP reports. Machado was set to run against Maduro, but the government disqualified her. Edmundo González took her place. He had never run for office before. The lead-up to the election saw widespread repression including disqualifications, arrests, and human rights violations. The crackdown on dissent only increased after the country's National Electoral Council, which is stacked with Maduro loyalists, declared him the winner despite credible evidence to the contrary.
• Machado went into hiding and has not been seen in public since January. A Venezuelan court issued an arrest warrant for González, who moved to Spain and was granted asylum. Asked whether the committee expects Machado to travel to Oslo for the prize ceremony in December, Frydnes said they hope to see her but they are aware there is a serious security situation, the BBC reports.
• David Scheffer, who was the US ambassador at large for war crimes issues during the Clinton administration, tells the New York Times that the committee has "elevated a courageous hero of peacemaking—someone who works among her own people to protect them against repression and atrocity crimes in order to shape a more peaceful and democratic world."

• Asked about lobbying for the prize by President Trump and his supporters, Frydnes said: "I think this committee has seen any type of campaign, media attention. We receive thousands and thousands of letters every year of people wanting to say what for them leads to peace. This committee sits in a room filled with the portraits of all laureates, and that room is filled with both courage and integrity. So we base only our decision on the work and the will of Alfred Nobel."
• Former NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen, who had predicted Trump wouldn't win the prize, tells Politico that the president could have a better chance next year. "If the Middle East peace process will be a success, if the 20-point plan will actually be implemented, and we will see a sustainable long-term peace in the region, that's an important step," he says. "And if, through increased pressure on Putin, he can create peace in Ukraine, I think he would be, and should be, a strong candidate."