Machado dedicates Václav Havel to those who fight for Venezuela
Maria Corina Machado This Monday he thanked the Council of Europe for awarding him the Václav Havel Prize for Human Rights and dedicated this award to all those who fight for freedom in Venezuela.
«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,” said the opposition leader via videoconference from hiding in Venezuela.
He assured that the fight for freedom in Venezuela continues and that the truth will prevail, referring to the results of the July 28 presidential elections in the country. Although the authorities proclaimed Nicolás Maduro the winner, the opposition claims that its candidate, Edmundo González Urrutia, won.
«I am convinced that we are doing well, this is my role and that is why they have chosen me as leader. The truth is hard for Venezuelans right now, but it is evident that the inevitable decline of the dictatorial regime has begun. We are immersed in a fight for truth, a spiritual fight for good. “We will remain firm in defending the lessons learned from Havel, until the end,” he concluded.
#BREAKING María Corina Machado, after receiving the Václav Havel award: “The truth is hard for Venezuelans at this moment, but it is evident that the inevitable decline of the dictatorial regime has begun” https://t.co/0BxXfgHbbp pic.twitter.com/Lai6HOr3gD
— We monitor (@monitoreamos) September 30, 2024
The award was received by her daughter Ana Corina Machado 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 her country and defending democracy and the rule of law,” Rousopoulos stressed before the parliamentarians.
Machado, first Latin American to receive the Václav Havel Prize
María Corina Machado thus became the first Latin American to obtain this award that recognizes actions in defense of human rights.
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, AFP recalled, the prize went to the imprisoned Turkish patron Osman Kavala, who succeeded the Russian opponent Vladimir Kara-Murza. The latter was present this Monday in Strasbourg, after his release by Moscow in August in a prisoner exchange.
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