CARACAS, Nov 22, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - Venezuela's opposition called Friday for rallies in several cities around the world on December 6, four days before its leader, Maria Corina Machado, is slated to accept the Nobel Peace Prize.

Machado, in hiding since August 2024, has said she intends to accept the prize in person in Oslo, but her presence will not be confirmed until the day of the ceremony, December 10.

"The Nobel belongs to everyone...let's mobilize around the world to receive the Nobel Peace Prize together," said the announcement circulated on social media.

It did not name cities where marches will take place, or say if Machado, who in the past has emerged from hiding to lead demonstrations, will participate.

Opposition activism in Venezuela has been muted since the arrest of some 2,400 people during protests that followed the most recent reelection of President Nicolas Maduro in July 2024.

Machado has accused Maduro of stealing last year's presidential election -- a claim backed by much of the international community. She also supports Washington's assessment that he heads a drug cartel.

And the Nobel Peace laureate has welcomed the beefed-up US military presence in the region, which has seen strikes on alleged drug boats claim at least 83 lives in the Caribbean and Pacific since September.

"We are on the threshold of a new era," Machado said in a video posted on social media on Tuesday.

"The long and violent abuse of power by this regime is coming to an end," she said. Maduro has been in office since 2013.

In announcing the Nobel Peace Prize on October 10, the committee highlighted what it said was Machado's "tireless work promoting democratic rights for the people of Venezuela, and her struggle to achieve a just and peaceful transition from dictatorship to democracy."

Several Latin American presidents and leaders have expressed their willingness to accompany Machado to Norway.

Venezuela's Attorney General Tarek William Saab told AFP on Thursday that if Machado leaves the country, she will be considered a "fugitive" from justice because there are "numerous criminal investigations" against her.