Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, who this Monday won the Václav Havel Human Rights Prize awarded annually by the Council of Europe, showed her willingness to “continue fighting alongside the Venezuelan people.”
According to the criteria of
“I have decided to continue fighting alongside the Venezuelan people”Machado said before the Assembly of the Council of Europe, in a speech via videoconference since he is in hiding in his country.
Machado became the first Latin American woman to obtain this award that recognizes actions in defense of human rights.
“I am convinced that it is the right thing to do, that it is my role, and that is why they chose me as their leader for this stage of struggle,” continued the Venezuelan opponent.
Machado is a prominent political figure in Venezuela, committed to denouncing human rights violations in his country and defending democracy and the rule of law.
“The meaning of this award is immense, not only for me, but for all those who today fight together for the cause of freedom in Venezuela”Machado thanked.
Her daughter Ana Corina Machado received the award on behalf of her mother shortly before from the president of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, Theodoros Rousopoulos, during its plenary session in Strasbourg, in northeastern France.
“Machado is a prominent political figure in Venezuela, committed to denouncing human rights violations in his country and defending democracy and the rule of law,” Rousopoulos stressed before the parliamentarians.
The 56-year-old opposition figure played a key role in Venezuela’s presidential election in July. Although the authorities proclaimed President Nicolás Maduro the winner, the opposition claims that its candidate, Edmundo González Urrutia, won.
“In response to this resounding defeat, the regime has reacted brutally. Thousands of my fellow citizens, including women and children, have been detained and tortured. Hundreds of colleagues have been mistreated” or “have had to go into exile,” denounced the winner.
Since the presidential election, the situation of the opposition is precarious. Machado is in hiding, in the midst of a wave of arrests of members of his close circle, and González Urrutia went into exile to Spain on September 8.
‘I’m in the right place at the right time’
Although Maduro assured on Saturday that the opposition leader is preparing to leave the country, Machado, who usually comes out of hiding on rare occasions to participate in demonstrations, reiterated this Monday that his intention is to remain in Venezuela.
“I am in the right place and time. I have decided to continue fighting alongside the Venezuelan people. I am convinced that it is the right thing to do, that it is my role,” said the winner, who in a recent interview with AFP acknowledged that this is ” a great personal challenge.”
In addition to the Venezuelan opposition leader, The other two finalists for the prestigious award were the Azerbaijani political activist Akif Gurbanov, detained in 2024, and the Georgian feminist Babutsa Pastaraia.
The Václav Havel Prize, created in 2013 by this institution not linked to the European Union and endowed with 60,000 euros ($66,715 at the current exchange rate), rewards exceptional actions by civil society in defense of human rights.
In 2023, the prize went to imprisoned Turkish patron Osman Kavala, who succeeded Russian opposition figure Vladimir Kara-Murza. The latter was present this Monday in Strasbourg, after his release by Moscow in August in a prisoner exchange.
The Venezuelan opposition exiled in Spain celebrated this Monday that the Václav Havel Human Rights Prize awarded by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe has “recognised the struggle” of the opposition leader María Corina Machado.
Former Venezuelan opposition presidential candidate Edmundo González Urrutia stated, after hearing the news, that he was “honored to accompany María Corina in her feat.”
“I strongly embrace the woman that today the Council of Europe rewards and recognizes for her struggle,” added X González on the social network, a refugee in Spain after the Venezuelan presidential elections last July, of which the National Electoral Council proclaimed President Nicolás Maduro won without presenting the voting records, something that the opposition Unified Democratic Platform did do.
#María #Corina #Machado #leader #Venezuelan #opposition #wins #Václav #Havel #Human #Rights #Prize #Council #Europe #decided #continue #fighting #people