Machado reappears in Oslo: 'I came to receive the prize on behalf of the Venezuelan people and I will take it back to Venezuela at the correct moment'

Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado reappeared in public on Thursday for the first time in nearly a year, after being absent from the Nobel Peace Prize in Norway, collected by her daughter.

"I came to receive the prize on behalf of the Venezuelan people and I will take it back to Venezuela at the correct moment," the 58 year old opposition leader said in English during a press conference in the Norwegian parliament.

"I will not say when that is or how it's going to be," she told the press, adding that she wants "to end with this tyranny very soon." She also assured that it is necessary to "finish the job" to establish democracy in her country.

Outside the Norwegian Parliament, Machado told reporters she would do her “best” to return.

Likewise, the opposition leader thanked those who "risked their lives" so that she could be present in Oslo.

"Of course I'm going back"

In her first statements since her arrival in the Norwegian capital, Machado confirmed her intention to return to Venezuela, where she has been living in hiding for almost a year.

"Of course I'm going back," she said Thursday in an exclusive interview with the BBC. "I know exactly the risks I'm taking," she added.

"I'm going to be in the place where I'm most useful for our cause," she said. "Until a short time ago, the place I thought I had to be was Venezuela, the place I believe I have to be today, on behalf of our cause, is Oslo," she added.

"I've been able to see the people I love the most"

During the interview, the opposition leader, with several rosaries hanging around her neck, said she had missed the graduations and weddings of her daughter and one of her sons.

"For over 16 months I haven't been able to hug or touch anyone," she exclaimed. "Suddenly in the matter of a few hours I've been able to see the people I love the most, and touch them and cry and pray together."

The regime is "a criminal structure"

During her conversation with the BBC, Machado denounced that the Chavista regime is sustained by criminal activities such as drug trafficking and human trafficking, and urged the international community to "cut those inflows" of illicit money.

When asked if she would support a military incursion in Venezuela by United States, the opposition leader accused Maduro of having surrendered Venezuela's sovereignty "to criminal organizations."

"We didn't want a war, we didn't look for it… it was Maduro who declared war on the Venezuelan people," she added.

"We need to address this regime not as a conventional dictatorship, but as a criminal structure," the opposition leader told the BBC.

Machado reappeared in public at the height of the crisis between the Venezuelan regime and Washington, which has deployed since August a naval flotilla to fight drug trafficking in the Caribbean and the Pacific, where it has killed 87 suspected drug traffickers.

Leaving Venezuela "is very dangerous"

The opposition leader assured that both she and her team are prepared to take over the government in Venezuela and that she proposed to meet with representatives of the regime to negotiate a peaceful transition, but "they rejected it."

On the other hand, Machado did not give many details about her departure from Venezuela, but she did affirm that the Maduro regime is looking for her. "They [the Venezuelan government] say I'm a terrorist and have to be in jail for the rest of my life,"she said. "So leaving Venezuela today, in these circumstances, is very, very dangerous."

"I just want to say today that I'm here, because many men and women risked their lives in order for me to arrive in Oslo."