Dozens of Venezuelans joined the global marches "for peace and freedom" in Venezuela, held in Panama this Saturday. The rallies were called on Thursday by opposition leader and former deputy María Corina Machado. "We are heeding the call of leader María Corina Machado, the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize laureate, to show the world that we are proud to have a Nobel laureate who is a person who has fought for peace, freedom, and hope not only for Venezuela, but for an entire region," Ricardo Contreras of the CONVZLA Panama Command told EFE. Representatives of the Venezuelan community, which numbers more than 60,000 residents in Panama, marched from one of the central stretches of the Cinta Costera tourist promenade bordering Panama Bay to the Plaza de la Democracia at the entrance to the exclusive Paitilla residential area in the capital. The idea of this march, "full of light, hope, and joy," is to make a call for "hope, attention, and to carry a light like a beacon that guides us toward the freedom we are seeking," Contreras indicated. In this sense, the opposition leader stated that "it is no secret to anyone that there are approximately 9 million Venezuelans scattered around the world, a diaspora that has been forced to leave the country due to the situation, and we have organized these global marches in more than 20 countries and more than 130 cities." On this Thursday, Machado reiterated her call for Venezuelans around the world to march "for peace and freedom" in the country, a mobilization scheduled four days before the presentation of the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize in Norway, awarded to the former opposition deputy. "While the regime (Government of Nicolás Maduro) tries to hide this incredible achievement, this recognition that the entire world gives us Venezuelans, we are going to turn on a light in the main cities of the world," Machado expressed in a video posted on social networks. Machado was awarded the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize "for her tireless work in promoting the democratic rights of the Venezuelan people and for her struggle to achieve a just and peaceful transition from dictatorship to democracy," announced the Norwegian Nobel Committee on October 10. The Norwegian Nobel Committee declared on November 14 that Machado has made it clear that she will travel to Oslo to receive the prize. It is also expected that Venezuelan opposition leader Edmundo González Urrutia, exiled in Spain and who faced Nicolás Maduro in the July 2024 elections, will attend. The Government of Paraguay announced this week that President Santiago Peña will travel to Norway to accompany Machado to receive the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize, as will the presidents of Panama, José Raúl Mulino, and Ecuador, Daniel Noboa. "This Saturday we have a great opportunity, we are going to ratify this message in the march for peace and freedom."
