Venezuela has said it will shut its embassy in Norway after opposition leader María Corina Machado received the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo. The move comes as critics note the Venezuelan government’s increasing rift with Norway and other Western partners.
The country’s foreign ministry in Oslo announced that the Venezuelan embassy offered no explanation for the decision. “It is regrettable,” the ministry said, adding that it still wants to keep the channel of dialogue open with Caracas. The spokesperson highlighted that the Nobel committee that awarded the prize is separate from the Norwegian government.
Machado, 58, was honored for her campaign to push Venezuela toward a democratic transition. The award followed a year of silence for the opposition figure, who was barred from running in last year’s election. President Nicolás Maduro won that election despite credible evidence that suggested the result was fraudulent, prompting mass protests that the government quashed violently.
Machado dedicated her prize to “the suffering people of Venezuela and to President Donald Trump for his decisive support of our cause.” Speculation that Trump might win a prize himself had surfaced in the weeks before the announcement.
Venezuela also announced it would close its embassy in Australia and open new diplomatic missions in Burkina Faso and Zimbabwe. The move is part of a broader shift away from Washington allies amid growing tensions between Caracas and the United States.
The US and Venezuela clashed in a UN Security Council emergency meeting on Friday. Washington said it would use its “full might” to dismantle drug cartels, while the Maduro regime warned it expected “an armed attack.” The meeting followed a US claim of military strikes on four boats that were alleged to be transporting drugs, an action that Venezuela says threatens peace and stability in the region.
The closures, grounded in the geopolitical rift, underscore how Venezuela’s diplomatic posture toward western allies is changing as the government faces growing pressure from the United Nations and the United States.
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