María Corina Machado wins the Václav Havel Human Rights Prize from the Council of Europe

The Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado He won this Monday the Václav Havel Prize for Human Rights awarded each year by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.

Her daughter, Ana Corina Sosa, was in charge of collecting this award on behalf of her mother, who is in hiding due to threats from the Venezuelan regime of Nicolás Maduro.

Through a recording he has said he feels “deeply moved, honored and grateful” of being the first Latin American to receive this award, which she dedicated “to the millions of Venezuelans who embody Havel’s values ​​and ideas every day.” “The meaning of this award is immense, not only for me, but for all of us who today fight together for the cause of freedom in Venezuela,” he continued.

The opposition leader showed this Monday her willingness to “continue fighting alongside the Venezuelan people.” The opponent, who is in hiding in her country, added: “I am convinced that it is the right thing to do, that it is my roleand that is why they chose me as their leader for this stage of struggle.”

Corina Machado stressed the “importance” of the award, not only for her, “but, above all, for all those who fight together for the cause of freedom in Venezuela.”

The Venezuelan remembered Vaclav Havel, leader during the Prague Spring in 1968 and first president of the Czechoslovak Republic after the fall of communism in that country and assured that “in light of his legacy (…) Venezuelans have identified the root of the problem to defeat the dictatorship“Adhere to our core values ​​and hold the truth as our flag,” he said.

Machado insisted on the “sounding defeat” of President Nicolás Ripe in the elections last July and in the victory of Edmundo González Urrutiawho “has been forced into exile in Spain” since last September 8.

This is the first time that the Council of Europe has awarded the Václav Havel to someone from Latin America since the organization first presented the prize in 2013.

Corina Machado He faced the defender of Human Rights on the shortlist Akif Gurbanov, detained last March in Azerbaijan in the framework of a wave of arrests against activists and journalists, and the Georgian feminist activist and lawyer Babutsa Pataraiawho runs an NGO that provides support to women victims of gender violence.

The prize is awarded each year by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe together with the Václav Havel Library and the Charta 77 Foundation and is endowed with 60,000 euros.

Since its creation in 2013, it has fallen, among others, to the Turkish activist Osman Kavala (2023), the Russian opponent Vladimir Kara-Murza (2022) or the Yazidi activist Nadia Murad (2016).

The Council of Europe, an organization that is not part of the European Union, was founded in 1949 to promote the integration of the continentthe rule of law and human rights, after the Second World War.