DORAL, Fla. — Venezuelans were at El Arepazo in Doral Wednesday morning to start their watch party to see Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado receive the Nobel Peace Prize, only to learn she wouldn’t be attending the ceremony in Oslo.
Her daughter, instead, accepted the award on her behalf at the ceremony as Machado didn’t arrive in time to Norway’s capital.
Still, Venezuelans in South Florida said they were happy to come out and see the success for their home country.
Machado said in October that she’d be dedicating the award in part to President Donald Trump, who has said he believes he deserves the award.
Her announced absence from the ceremony comes after a news conference was cancelled for the Nobel laureate after delays for several hours without explanation.
Machado has not been seen in public in 11 months and has supposedly been hiding in the wake of President Nicolas Maduro’s post-election crackdown.
Meanwhile, tensions are continuing to rise between the U.S. and Venezuela as Trump turns up the pressure on the Maduro regime, saying a ground invasion of the Latin American country has not been ruled out.
Maduro is wanted in the U.S. as a narco-terrorist.
We now know a pair of U.S. fighter jets flew near the coast of Venezuela Tuesday in what a Pentagon official is calling a training mission.
Maduro has accused the Trump administration of using the recent boat strikes and military buildup in the Caribbean as a smoke screen for regime change and wanting access to his nation’s vast oil reserves.
Democrats and Republicans now want video of the second strike, where two survivors were killed in a follow-up attack in September, to be made public.
Meanwhile, the White House has begun drawing up plans for what involvement the U.S. may have in Venezuela if Machado’s opponent, Maduro, leaves office.
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