The chairman of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, Jorgen Watne Frydnes, urged Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on Wednesday to accept the results "He must accept the election results and resign from his post to lay the groundwork for a peaceful transition to democracy in the country, as that is the will of the Venezuelan people. Maria Corina Machado and the Venezuelan opposition have lit a flame that no torture, no lies, and no fear can extinguish," he said in his Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech. At the ceremony, which the Venezuelan opposition leader did not attend, but whose speech was read by her daughter, Ana Corina Sosa Machado, Frydnes accused Maduro of turning Venezuela "into a brutal and authoritarian state mired in a deep humanitarian and economic crisis" while a "small elite at the top, protected by power, weapons, and impunity, enriches itself." The head of the Nobel Peace Prize Committee described “One of the world’s largest refugee crises” refers to the emigration of Venezuelans in recent years, estimated by the institution at more than 8 million people, or a quarter of the population.

Maduro’s regime, “a regime that silences, harasses, and systematically attacks the opposition”

Frydnes criticized the Caracas government for establishing “a regime that silences, harasses, and systematically attacks the opposition.”

“While we sit here in Oslo City Hall, innocent people are locked in dark cells in Venezuela. They cannot hear today’s speeches, only the screams of prisoners being tortured,” he said.

He described the recent death, while in the custody of the Venezuelan state, of former governor of Nueva Esparta (an island state), Alfredo Diaz, at the headquarters of the Bolivarian National Intelligence Service (SEBIN), as “another victim of the regime.”

Known as El Helicoide, “the largest torture chamber in Latin America.”

Frydnes, who framed the situation in Venezuela within a global advance of authoritarianism and said that the world had “turned its back” on it, maintained that Machado participated in dialogue processes for years and accused the Venezuelan government of offering a manipulated version of the opposition to present itself as a guarantor of peace.

Machado “has not called for an invasion of Venezuela”

“Ms. Machado has requested international attention, support, and pressure, not an invasion of Venezuela. She has urged the population to defend their rights through peaceful and democratic means,” he stated.

In his speech, he reviewed the laureate's political career, focusing primarily on the 2024 presidential elections, a “decisive factor” in her selection for the Nobel Prize, and described the opposition's actions in photographing and securing copies of the tally sheets as “a grassroots mobilization without “Precedents in Venezuela and, probably, throughout the world.”

“To all those in Caracas and other Venezuelan cities who are forced to whisper the language of freedom: Listen to us now. Know that the world is not turning its back on you. That freedom is coming. And that Venezuela will once again be a peaceful and democratic country. Let a new era dawn,” he said.

Meanwhile, he pointed out that more and more countries, “even those with a long democratic tradition, are drifting toward authoritarianism and militarism.”

“Authoritarian regimes learn from each other. They share technologies and propaganda systems. Behind Maduro are Cuba, Russia, Iran, China, and Hezbollah, which provide weapons, surveillance systems, and avenues for economic survival. They make the regime more robust and more brutal,” he stressed.

For Frydnes, Venezuela’s future can take many forms, “but the present is one, and it is "Horrible."

That is why the democratic opposition in Venezuela "must have our support, not our indifference or, worse still, our condemnation."