The 2025 Nobel Peace Prize laureate and Venezuelan opposition leader, María Corina Machado , asserted this Thursday, December 11, in Oslo that Venezuela “has already been invaded,” in response to a question about whether she would support military action in her country.

His statement came during a meeting with the Prime Minister of Norway, Jonas Gahr Støre, as part of his agenda after arriving in Norway following his departure from Venezuela, where he had been in hiding due to persecution by the Nicolás Maduro regime.

Machado rejected the idea of ​​a foreign military intervention in the traditional sense, but warned that the country is experiencing a silent occupation by external actors and criminal organizations allied with Maduro. “Some people talk about an invasion of Venezuela, about the threat of an invasion. And I respond: Venezuela has already been invaded,” she stated.

The opposition leader denounced the presence of “Russian agents, Iranian agents, and terrorist groups such as Hezbollah and Hamas” that, she said, operate “freely in agreement with the regime.”

He added that Colombian guerrillas and drug cartels have taken control of large swathes of territory within the country. “They have taken over more than 60% of our population and are involved not only in drug trafficking but also in human trafficking. This has turned Venezuela into the criminal hub of the Americas,” he asserted.

Machado pointed out that the regime’s repressive structure is sustained by transnational networks of illicit financing. “Where do these funds come from? From drug trafficking, the black market for oil, arms trafficking, and human trafficking,” she stated, warning that these operations allow the Maduro government to maintain a “very powerful and well-funded system of repression.”