In a dramatic turn on the international stage, Venezuela has closed its embassy in Norway, just days after opposition leader María Corina Machado was awarded the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo. The move, confirmed by multiple sources including BBC and El Universal, signals rising tensions between Caracas and European capitals, and adds another layer to Venezuela’s ongoing political saga.
The embassy shutdown, announced on October 14, 2025, came as a surprise to many. The Venezuelan government described the closure as part of a broader “restructuring of its foreign service,” but conspicuously avoided any direct mention of Machado’s Nobel win. According to the Venezuelan foreign ministry, the decision was made to “realign its diplomacy and reallocate resources to focus on the global south.” Venezuela simultaneously announced the closure of its embassy in Australia and plans to open new diplomatic missions in Zimbabwe and Burkina Faso—nations it called “strategic allies in the anti-colonial fight and in resistance to hegemonic pressures.”
Norway’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed the closure and voiced disappointment, with a spokesperson telling Reuters, “It is regrettable. Despite our differences on several issues, Norway wishes to keep the dialogue open with Venezuela and will continue to work in this direction.” The Norwegian official was quick to clarify that the Nobel Committee, which selects Peace Prize laureates, operates independently of the Norwegian government—a point echoed by other European diplomats in the wake of the announcement.
The diplomatic fallout came on the heels of a historic moment for Venezuela’s embattled opposition. On October 10, 2025, the Nobel Committee awarded the Peace Prize to María Corina Machado, a 58-year-old opposition politician, for her “tireless work promoting democratic rights for the people of Venezuela.” Committee chair Jørgen Watne Frydnes described Machado as a “key, unifying figure in a political opposition that was once deeply divided … in a brutal authoritarian state that is now suffering a humanitarian and economic crisis.”
Machado’s recognition by the Nobel Committee was met with both jubilation and fury. While her supporters celebrated the international spotlight on Venezuela’s struggle for democracy, President Nicolás Maduro responded with a barrage of insults. According to El Universal, Maduro dismissed Machado as a “demon” and a “witch,” declaring, “Ninety percent of the population rejects the demon-witch.” He accused her of calling for foreign intervention and reaffirmed the government’s resolve to defend Venezuela’s sovereignty. “We want peace, and we will have peace—but peace with freedom and sovereignty,” Maduro said in remarks carried by state media.
Machado, for her part, dedicated her Nobel Prize “to the suffering people of Venezuela” and to United States President Donald Trump, whose administration had previously supported her efforts to challenge Maduro’s rule. “There’s a broad consensus among Venezuelans to recognize President Trump for what we see as just and necessary,” Machado told AFP in an interview from hiding. “It’s a message to show how much Venezuela needs his leadership and the international coalition that has formed.”
The Nobel laureate’s journey to this point has been fraught with peril. Machado, a co-founder of the political movement Súmate and a former member of the National Assembly, has been one of the most prominent critics of Maduro’s regime. She has spent much of the past year in hiding, evading government persecution while continuing to advocate for democracy, human rights, and market reforms. “It was one of the biggest surprises of my life, and I have to admit that even today, three days later, I’m still processing it,” Machado said of her Nobel win.
Her award comes at a time of heightened uncertainty and escalating tensions in Venezuela. In August 2025, the United States deployed eight warships off Venezuela’s coast, marking the largest military buildup in the Western Hemisphere since the U.S. invasion of Panama in 1989. The Trump administration has already struck four boats it claimed were used for drug trafficking, resulting in at least 21 deaths, and several sources close to the U.S. government have indicated that further strikes targeting Venezuela could be imminent.
Asked about the possibility of a U.S. military intervention, Machado declined to speculate but acknowledged “fluid communication” with Washington and governments across Latin America and Europe. She emphasized that her Nobel win, coupled with the U.S. military presence, has put the regime in crisis. “They know we are in a final and decisive phase. In recent hours, several comrades have been arrested, and repression is intensifying,” she said. “It’s a way for the regime to appear strong, but they know the Nobel and the deployment were a fatal blow.”
Machado has also extended an olive branch—albeit a barbed one—to President Maduro, offering personal guarantees for a peaceful transition if he steps down. “Maduro currently has the opportunity to move toward a peaceful transition,” she told AFP. “We are ready to offer guarantees, guarantees that we will not make public until we are sitting at that negotiation table. If he continues to resist, the consequences will be entirely his responsibility. With or without negotiation, he will leave power.”
She further stated that guarantees would be extended to the military, police, and public employees who help facilitate a transition, noting, “More and more, they (military personnel) are reaching out and providing us with information.” Machado asserted that “all—civilians and military—have a role to play” in Venezuela’s future.
The opposition, for its part, claims to have collected vote tallies proving its victory in the 2024 presidential election—a result the National Electoral Council, widely seen as controlled by the government, has refused to acknowledge, citing a cyberattack. Machado maintains that the regime’s days are numbered: “The one who declared war on Venezuelans is Nicolas Maduro,” she said, accusing the government of being infiltrated by foreign allies and criminal groups. “We Venezuelans don’t have firearms. We have our voice, civic organization, pressure, and denunciation.”
Meanwhile, the international community is left to interpret Venezuela’s diplomatic maneuvers. The closure of embassies in Norway and Australia, alongside the opening of new missions in Africa, suggests a recalibration of Caracas’s foreign policy priorities. Yet the timing—so soon after Machado’s Nobel win—has fueled speculation that the moves are a direct response to the global recognition of the opposition’s cause, and a signal of deepening isolation from Western democracies.
As for Machado, she remains in hiding, but resolute. Opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia—considered by many to be the rightful winner of the 2024 election—has publicly asked her to serve as vice president. “I’ll be wherever I can be most useful to our country,” Machado said. Reflecting on her time underground, she added, “I’m not counting the days—I’m subtracting the ones that remain. I have no doubt we’re in a countdown.”
With the Nobel spotlight now on Venezuela, the world watches as the country teeters between repression and the hope for peaceful change.