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The government of Nicolás Maduro announced the closure of the Venezuelan embassy in Oslo, Norway, just days after the opposition leader María Corina Machado received the Nobel Peace Prize 2025.
In an official statement, the Venezuelan government did not mention the award given to Machado and argued that the decision is part of a "restructuring of the foreign service," reported the news agency Reuters.
However, the decision has been interpreted by analysts and international media as a direct reaction to the recognition of the opposition leader.
The Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed the closure of the Venezuelan diplomatic mission in Oslo, although it specified that Caracas did not provide detailed reasons.
“This is a regrettable decision. Despite our differences, Norway wishes to maintain an open dialogue with Venezuela,” declared a spokesperson for the ministry, who emphasized that the Nobel Prize “is completely independent of the Norwegian government.”
The Norwegian Nobel Committee announced last Friday the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to María Corina Machado “for her tireless work promoting the democratic rights of the people of Venezuela.”
The president of the Committee, Jørgen Watne Frydes, described her as “a key figure, unifying the Venezuelan opposition in a brutally authoritarian state.”
Machado, who has been in hiding for months, told BBC Mundo that the award represents “a boost of encouragement and strength to complete the final stage of this struggle” and shows that “the Venezuelan people are not alone.”
The closing of the embassy in Norway coincides with the closure of the Venezuelan office in Australia and the opening of new embassies in Zimbabwe and Burkina Faso, countries that Caracas has labeled as “strategic partners in the fight against hegemonic pressures.”
According to the agency Reuters, the Maduro government described the closures as part of a “strategic resource reallocation,” although the measure comes amid rising tensions with the United States.
In recent weeks, the U.S. naval force has destroyed five vessels that Washington claimed were carrying narcotics from Venezuela to its territory, resulting in the deaths of more than twenty people.
Caracas and several Latin American governments, including Colombia, have condemned the attacks as a violation of international law.
This is not the first time Norway has faced diplomatic repercussions for awarding the Nobel Peace Prize.
In 2010, when the award was given to Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo, Beijing suspended trade and diplomatic relations with Oslo for six years.
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