Venezuela closes the Embassy in Norway after Nobel for an opposition leader

Venezuela announced on Monday that she would close her embassy in Oslo, days after opposition leader Maria Corina Mahado was awarded to the Nobel Peace Prize.

In a statement, the Venezuelan government did not comment on the Machado Award, stating that the closure was part of the restructuring of his foreign service.

The Foreign Ministry of Norway has confirmed that Caracas has closed its embassy in Oslo without giving a reason.

The Nobel Committee in Oslo awarded her the award on Friday in recognition of what she called “her tireless work, which promotes democratic rights to Venezuela people,” while Venezuela leader Nicolas Maduro cited 58-year-old laureate as a “demonic witch.”

The Norwegian Foreign Ministry called the decision “unfortunately”.

“Despite our differences on several issues, Norway wants to maintain the dialogue open with Venezuela and will continue to work in this direction,” said a spokesman for the ministry.

She added that the Nobel Prize “was independent of the Norwegian government.

Machado has been campaigning against Maduro for years, whose 12-year rule is considered by many countries as illegitimate.

Caracas also closed her embassy in Australia as she opened new advanceds in Zimbabwe and Burkina Faso, which she called “strategic partners in the battle” against “hegemonic pressure”.

She is forced to live in hiding in the bigger part of the past year.

Honoring his achievement, the Nobel Chairman, Jogen Watn Fried, called the Machado “key, unifying figure in a political opposition that was once deeply divided … in a brutal authoritarian state that is now suffering from a humanitarian and economic crisis.”

Macado told BBC Mundo Her award was “like an injection” for her political movement. “It infuses energy, hope, the power of Venezwell’s people, because we realize that we are not alone,” she said.

The closure of Venezuela’s embassies in two close allies of the United States comes after weeks of increased tensions between Caracas and Washington.

The US military has destroyed at least four boats, which is said to carry drugs from Venezuela to the United States, killing at least 21 people on board, in what Donald Trump’s administration calls a drug war.

Strikes attract condemnation in countries, including Venezuela and Colombia, with some international lawyers describing strikes as a violation of international law.

The last time Norway suffered a diplomatic blow to the Nobel Peace Prize was with China in 2010 when she was awarded to political dissident Liu Xiaobo. Beijing stopped trade and other relations and only normalized the connections with Oslo six years later.