Colombia will be present at the Noble Peace Price ceremony in Norway at which jailed Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo will be honored, the country’s foreign minister said Thursday.
According to foreign minister Maria Angela Holguin, Colombia initially wasn’t going to attend the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony, because the consul was planning to attend instead the Nobel Literature Prize ceremony honoring Peruvian writer Mario Vargas Llosa.
Colombia appeared on the list of countries who had announced that they would not go to the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony after China called a boycott of the ceremony and threatened “consequences” for countries who did attend.
Following this news, Colombia’s W Radio said the country was not attending the ceremony “for economic reasons.” Colombia is strengthening economic ties with China, which opposes the award for Xiaobo, a human rights activist demanding democratic reforms in the communist country.
According to the foreign minister it wasn’t possible to be present at both ceremonies, but she is now looking for ways to make it happen.