Venezuela has shut down its embassy in Norway just days after opposition leader María Corina Machado received the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo, a move that has stirred fresh debate over Caracas’s tense relations with Europe.
In a statement released on Monday, the Venezuelan government described the closure as part of a broader “restructuring of its foreign service.” The announcement offered no direct reference to Machado’s award or any political motive behind the decision.
Norway’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed the closure and expressed disappointment, saying it still wished to maintain diplomatic dialogue. “It is regrettable. Despite our differences, Norway wants to keep the dialogue open with Venezuela and will continue to work in this direction,” a ministry spokesperson told Reuters. The official also emphasized that the Nobel Committee operates independently of the Norwegian government.
The decision came only three days after 58-year-old Machado was honoured with the Nobel Peace Prize for what the committee described as her “tireless work promoting democratic rights for the people of Venezuela.” Machado, who has long opposed President Nicolás Maduro’s rule, has spent much of the past year in hiding amid government crackdowns on political dissent.
Nobel Committee chair Jørgen Watne Frydnes hailed Machado as “a unifying figure in a once deeply divided opposition” and praised her courage in the face of “a brutal authoritarian state suffering a humanitarian and economic crisis.”
Maduro reacted angrily to the award, calling Machado a “demonic witch” in comments broadcast on state television. Machado, meanwhile, dedicated her prize to “the suffering people of Venezuela” and to former U.S. President Donald Trump, who supported her efforts to challenge Maduro’s rule.
In a further diplomatic shake-up, Venezuela announced it would also close its embassy in Australia while opening two new embassies in Burkina Faso and Zimbabwe. The government described the African nations as “strategic allies in the anti-colonial fight and in resistance to hegemonic pressures.”
Neither Norway nor Australia currently maintains an embassy in Caracas, with both managing Venezuelan consular matters through their missions in neighbouring Colombia.
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