All set for the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo, with Maria Corina Machado in doubt

Venezuelanopposition member Maria Corina Machado will receive the Nobel Peace Prize  this Wednesday in Oslo, in an event program that starts this Tuesday. Golardo is the seventh Latin American to achieve it.

However, the Nobel Institute in Oslo informed EFE on Saturday that Machado himself had assured in a telephone conversation that he would travel to the Norwegian capital a day earlier.

The head of the Nobel Peace Committee, Jørgen Watne Frydnes, has described the trip as "dangerous" because of reprisals by Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro's government and has stressed the importance of ensuring Machado's security so that Machado can then return to Venezuela.

The official program of events will open on Tuesday at 13:00 local time (12:00 GMT) with the winner's regular press conference at the Nobel Peace Institute, the same place where the award's decision is released every year.

After nearly 45 minutes of hearing, Machado will meet in a hall of the Institute with members of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, composed of five persons appointed every six years by the Norwegian Parliament, who will sign in the guest book. The Nobel Committee will then pay tribute to Machadowith a dinner at the Grand Hotel.

Before receiving the award at the City Hall, a few metres away, Machado will participate in an event organized by the NGO Save the Children . It's a show made by the kids themselves, and it's going to be held this year outside the Nobel Peace Center and not inside.

The ceremony will begin at 13:00 local time (12:00 GMT) at Oslo City Hall, where the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony has been held for four decades.

About a thousand people are invited to the ceremony, presided over by the royal family of Norway (Kings Harald V and Sonia, Crown Princes Haakon and Mette-Marit, and Ingrid Alexandra). Members of the Norwegian Government, deputies, representatives of civil society and members of the diplomatic corps will also attend.

The head of the Nobel Committee will give his first speech and then he will call Machado on the stage to receive the diploma that certifies the award – this year 11 million Swedish kroner (one million euros, 1.2 million dollars) and the corresponding medal before he reads his acceptance speech.