The daughter of Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado accepted the Nobel Peace Prize on her behalf in Oslo as her mother was unable to make it to the Norwegian Capital on time.
The Nobel Institute awarded Machado (above) the prize for "her struggle to achieve a just and peaceful transition from dictatorship to democracy" in Venezuela.
Humberto Fontova fled Cuba in 1961 and is author of several books on that regime. He says Machado is deserving of the award.
When you consider what's been going on in Venezuela for at least 20 years, and she's been holding the banner. What’s been going on most people don't follow that issue very closely, but if you follow what's been going on in Venezuela for 20 years, she well deserves it."
Fontova says it is significant that Machado is getting support from several prominent Latin American leaders including the presidents of Argentina, Ecuador, Panama, and Paraguay who attended the ceremony in Oslo.
Fontova believes it's only a matter of time before Venezuelan President Nicholas Maduro is out.
"It's all a matter of leadership. We have never had genuine leadership with regards to Latin America going back to Reagan. It's just great to see leadership and common sense with good intelligence taking place to what's going on South of the border."
Events such as earlier this week, when the U.S. commandeered a Venezuelan oil tanker off the country's coastline, could make Fontova prophetic.
Retired Navy Commander Kirk Lippold, who commanded the destroyer USS Cole when it was attacked by terrorists in Yemen in 2000 supports the move.
"I don't have any issues with it. I think that right now we are dealing with a narco-terrorist state that continues to transport drugs and uses oil as a means to fund that process. So, as with any illegal activity, follow the money. In this case it leads back to oil. You just stop the flow of oil," Lippold told AFN.
Machado won an opposition primary election and intended to challenge President Nicolas Maduro in last year’s presidential election, but the government barred her from running for office. Retired diplomat Edmundo González took her place, The Associated Press reported.
The lead-up to the July 28, 2024, election saw widespread repression, including disqualifications, arrests and human rights violations. That increased after the country’s National Electoral Council, which is stacked with Maduro loyalists, declared the incumbent the winner.
"What it is going to take is Maduro, his military and the thugs that support the narco-terrorist state to realize that they are going to eventually be held accountable unless they begin the transition immediately to the democratic form of government that was elected. And the woman that just won the Nobel Peace Prize, she is the legitimate leader of Venezuela."
