Venezuela closes embassy in Oslo
Venezuela announced on Monday that it will close its embassy in Oslo, just days after opposition leader María Corina Machado received the Nobel Peace Prize.
In a statement, the Venezuelan government did not comment on Machado's prize, saying that the closure was part of a restructuring of its foreign service, News.Az reports, citing BBC.
Norway's foreign ministry confirmed that Caracas had closed its embassy in Oslo without providing a reason.
The Nobel Committee in Oslo awarded her the prize on Friday in recognition of what it called "her tireless work promoting democratic rights for the people of Venezuela", while Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro referred to the 58-year-old laureate as a "demonic witch".
The Norwegian foreign ministry called the decision "regrettable".
"Despite our differences on several issues, Norway wishes to keep the dialogue open with Venezuela and will continue to work in this direction," a ministry spokeswoman said.
She added that the Nobel Prize "is independent of the Norwegian government".
Machado has for years been campaigning against Maduro, whose 12-year rule is viewed by many nations as illegitimate.
She has been forced to live in hiding for much of the past year.
In honouring her achievement, Nobel chairman Jørgen Watne Frydnes called Machado a "key, unifying figure in a political opposition that was once deeply divided... in a brutal authoritarian state that is now suffering a humanitarian and economic crisis."
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