María Corina Machado receives the Václav Havel Human Rights Prize

The Council of Europe has awarded the Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado with the Václav Havel Prize, which recognizes the defense of human rights worldwide. The former deputy thus becomes the first Latin American figure to receive this distinction and has immediately dedicated it to those who "fight for freedom" in her country.

The President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, Theodoros Rousopoulos, described Machado as a "defender" of democracy and lamented that she "cannot travel" as she is hiding for safety reasons to avoid an attack or arrest by the Chavista regime. While the dissident connected via videoconference, her daughter Ana Corina Sosa collected the award at the start of the plenary session in the Strasbourg Chamber. The two finalists for the award were Georgian Babutsa Pataraia and Azerbaijani Akif Gurbanov. The former is a well-known activist, director of the women's rights organization Sapari Union, and founder of the Georgian Women's Movement. Gurbanov is the co-founder of the Institute for Democratic Initiative and the Third Republic Platform. He has been detained amid a wave of repression against activists, journalists, and civil society members in his country.

The first edition of the Václav Havel Prize was held in 2013. It praises outstanding actions in favor of human rights. Before the Venezuelan opposition leader, it has been awarded to, among others, Ales Bialiatski (Nobel Peace Prize winner, president of the Human Rights Center Viasna, and imprisoned for three years in Belarus), Murat Arslan (repressed Turkish ex-judge), Maria Kalesnikava (detained by the Belarusian government after participating in the 2020 election campaign in support of opposition candidate Svetlana Tikhanovskaya), Vladimir Kara-Murza (politician and former Russian prisoner who attended the event this Monday), or Osman Kavala, businessman, collaborator with Amnesty International and other civil rights organizations sentenced to life imprisonment in Turkey.

María Corina Machado, 56 years old, has been in hiding since Nicolás Maduro was proclaimed president of Venezuela again this past August at the end of a process that has been labeled fraudulent by both the opposition and numerous countries and international organizations. Machado accompanied candidate Edmundo González Urrutia in the elections as the visible face of dissent after being banned from participating herself by the regime and representing the Democratic Unity Platform. After González's departure as a political asylum seeker to Spain, her electoral partner remains in hiding in Venezuela where she continues to denounce electoral fraud.

"I am where I feel most useful, accompanying Venezuelans in this struggle that is much bigger than any of us," María Corina said in some interviews she has given in recent weeks, where she also expressed her surprise at the "huge change" it means for her to have to stay hidden. She is a target of Maduro's insults in each of his presidential appearances. Just a few hours before being awarded by the Council of Europe, the Chavista leader assured that 'La Sayona,' as he disparagingly calls her, "is preparing to leave" the country; an assertion that Machado has taken advantage of to deny once again. The Václav Havel Prize from the Council of Europe represents a strong international boost to the cause of the Venezuelan opposition, which a few days ago received with undisguised joy the news that the European Parliament recognized González Urrutia as the "legitimate president" of the South American country.