Venezuelans have mixed reactions to Nobel laureate Machado traveling abroad

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado didn't arrive in Norway early enough to receive her Nobel Peace Prize in person, but her trip elicited mixed feelings in her country, where many backed her precisely because she had not left her homeland.

Machado’s daughter accepted the award on her behalf in a ceremony Wednesday that became a rally for democracy, and equally, an indictment of Venezuela’s government, with attendees hearing in detail documented human rights abuses carried out against real or perceived opponents of President Nicolás Maduro.

“She wants to live in a free Venezuela, and she will never give up on that purpose,” Ana Corina Sosa told the audience in Oslo before reading her mother’s prepared remarks. “That is why we all know, and I know, that she will be back in Venezuela very soon.”

Machado greeted supporters from an Oslo hotel balcony early Thursday after arriving in the Norwegian capital.

Machado had not been seen in public since Jan. 9, when she was briefly detained after joining supporters in an anti-government protest in Caracas, Venezuela’s capital. The following day, Maduro was sworn in to a third six-year term despite credible evidence that he lost the presidential election.

Machado intended to challenge Maduro in last year’s contest, but the government barred her from running for office, forcing her to endorse retired diplomat Edmundo González in her place. Before and after the election, many voters said they backed Machado — and by extension González — because she had not gone into exile while the country came undone.

On Wednesday, some Venezuelans understood her decision to depart while others questioned why she was awarded the Nobel.

“They say she left the country, if that’s true, good for her,” office worker Josefina Páez said in Caracas. “That woman has made many sacrifices to fight for democracy, and it’s time she reunites with her family, with her children, and continues fighting from abroad.”

Meanwhile, shopkeeper José Hurtado called Machado a “traitor” for her support of U.S. President Donald Trump's policy toward Venezuela.

“Those awards are very discredited,” he said.

The ceremony took place as Trump continues a military operation in the Caribbean that has killed Venezuelans in international waters and threatens to strike Venezuela.

González, who attended the ceremony in Oslo, sought asylum in Spain last year after a Venezuelan court issued a warrant for his arrest. His son-in-law, Rafael Tudares, is among the hundreds of people who are in prison for what human rights organizations have determined to be political reasons.

Independent experts backed by the United Nations, Venezuelan nongovernmental organizations and other groups have documented extensively brutal government repression throughout Maduro's presidency. Jørgen Watne Frydnes, chair of the Norwegian Nobel committee, told attendees about repeated instances of torture, including the experiences of children who were detained in the aftermath of the 2024 presidential election.

“The United Nations documented their experience as follows: Plastic bags pulled tight over their heads, electric shocks to the genitals, blows to the body so brutal it hurt the great, sexualized violence, cells so cold as to cause intense shivering, foul drinking water teeming with insects, screams that no one came to stop,” he said.

Watne Frydnes then called on Maduro to “accept the election result and step down.”

Flight tracking data show that the plane Machado arrived on flew to Oslo from Bangor, Maine. A crowd waiting outside her hotel chanted “Freedom! Freedom!” and “Thank you! Thank you!” after seeing her, and together, they sang Venezuela’s national anthem.

It is unclear when and how Machado and González could return to Venezuela. An opposition plan to get González back ahead of the Jan. 10 ceremony that gave Maduro another term did not materialize.

“People are anxiously awaiting news about what will happen, about how Maria Corina receiving or not receiving the award will affect things,” Caracas teacher José Murillo said.

Associated Press writer Jorge Rueda and video journalist Juan Pablo Arraez contributed to this report.

Nobel Peace Prize laureate Maria Corina Machado reacts to the crowd gathered in front of the Grand Hotel, in Oslo, Norway, early Thursday, Dec. 11, 2025. (Jonas Been Henriksen/NTB Scanpix via AP)

Nobel Peace Prize laureate Maria Corina Machado reacts to the crowd gathered below from a balcony at the Grand Hotel, in Oslo, Norway, early Thursday, Dec. 11, 2025. (Jonas Been Henriksen/NTB Scanpix via AP)

People attend a rally by the Norwegian Venezuelan Justice Alliance in honor of Nobel Peace Prize laureate Maria Corina Machado in Oslo, Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2025. (Amanda Pedersen Giske/NTB Scanpix via AP)

Corina Parisca de Machado, mother of Nobel Peace Prize laureate Maria Corina Machado, reacts during the Nobel Peace Prize award ceremony at Oslo City Hall, in Oslo, Norway, Wednesday Dec. 10, 2025. (Ole Berg-Rusten/NTB Scanpix, Pool via AP)

The daughter of the Nobel Peace Prize laureate, Ana Corina Sosa, accepts the award on behalf of her mother, Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, during the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony at Oslo City Hall, Norway, Wednesday Dec. 10, 2025. (Stian Lysberg Solum/NTB Scanpix via AP)

The daughter of the Nobel Peace Prize laureate, Ana Corina Sosa, accepts the award on behalf of her mother, Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, during the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony at Oslo City Hall, Norway, Wednesday Dec. 10, 2025. (Stian Lysberg Solum/NTB Scanpix via AP)

People applaud while watching the ceremony of the Nobel Peace Prize for Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado in Norway, during a live viewing in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

Getting trapped in quicksand is a corny peril of old movies and TV shows, but it really did happen to one unfortunate hiker in Utah's Arches National Park.

The park famous for dozens of natural, sandstone arches gets over 1 million visitors a year, and accidents ranging from falls to heat stroke are common.

Quicksand? Not really — but it has happened at least a couple of times now.

“The wet sand just kind of flows back in. It’s kind of a never-ending battle,” said John Marshall, who helped a woman stuck in quicksand over a decade ago and coordinated the latest rescue.

On Sunday, an experienced hiker, whose identity wasn't released, was traversing a small canyon on the second day of a 20-mile (32-kilometer) backpacking trip when he sank up to his thigh, according to Marshall.

Unable to free himself, the hiker activated an emergency satellite beacon. His message got forwarded to Grand County emergency responders and Marshall got the call at 7:15 a.m..

“I was just rolling out of bed,” Marshall said. “I'm scratching my head, going, ‘Did I hear that right? Did they say quicksand?’"

He put his boots on and rendezvoused with a team that set out with all-terrain vehicles, a ladder, traction boards, backboards and a drone. Soon, Marshall had a bird's-eye view of the situation.

Through the drone camera he saw a park ranger who'd tossed the man a shovel. But the quicksand flowed back as soon as the backpacker shoveled it away, Marshall said.

The Grand County Search and Rescue team positioned the ladder and boards near the backpacker and slowly worked his leg loose. By then he'd been standing in near-freezing muck, in temperatures in the 20s (negative 6 to negative 1 Celsius), for a couple of hours.

Rescuers warmed him up until he could stand, then walk. He then hiked out on his own, even carrying his backpack, Marshall said.

Quicksand is dangerous but it's a myth total submersion is the main risk, said Marshall.

“In quicksand you’re extremely buoyant,” he said. “Most people won’t sink past their waist in quicksand.”

Marshall is more or less a quicksand expert.

In 2014, he was a medic who helped a 78-year-old woman after she was stuck for over 13 hours in the same canyon just 2 miles (3 kilometers) from where Sunday's rescue took place.

The woman's book club got worried when she missed their meeting. They went looking for her and found her car at a trailhead. It was June — warmer than Sunday but not sweltering in the canyon's shade — and the woman made a full recovery after regaining use of her legs.

“Both had very happy endings,” Marshall said.

FILE - Delicate Arch is seen at Arches National Park on April 25, 2021, near Moab, Utah. (AP Photo/Lindsay Whitehurst, File)