Venezuela’s Attorney-General told AFP on Nov 20 that Nobel laureate and
opposition leader Maria Corina Machado will be considered a “fugitive” if she travels to Norway to accept the peace prize.
Ms Machado, who says she is in hiding in Venezuela, has expressed an intention to travel to Oslo for the Dec 10 ceremony.
“By being outside Venezuela and having numerous criminal investigations, she is considered a fugitive,” Attorney-General Tarek William Saab said, adding that she is accused of “acts of conspiracy, incitement of hatred, terrorism”.
Mr Saab said Ms Machado is also under investigation for her support of the United States’ deployment of military forces in the Caribbean.
US President Donald Trump has mobilised the world’s largest aircraft carrier, warships and fighter jets with the stated aim of anti-drug operations, but Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro says they intend to overthrow his leftist government.
Ms Machado has welcomed the military presence – which has seen strikes on alleged drug boats claim at least 83 lives in the Caribbean and Pacific – and has backed Washington’s claim that Mr Maduro heads a drug cartel.
In a video posted to social media on Nov 18, Ms Machado said Venezuela is “on the threshold of a new era”.
Mr Trump has said Mr Maduro’s days are numbered, and that he has authorised the Central Intelligence Agency’s clandestine operations in Venezuela.