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This Monday, the Council of Europe awarded the Vaclav Havel Human Rights Prize to Venezuelan opposition activist Maria Corina Machado, who said she felt “deeply touched, honored and grateful” to have received her the first Latino to receive this award.

Machado addressed the Council remotely from his country, dedicating the recognition to “the millions of Venezuelans who embody Havel’s values ​​and ideas every day” after his daughterAna received an award in her name in Strasbourg because she is “at risk” in Venezuela..

“The significance of this award is enormous not only for me, but also for everyone who hadToday we fight together for the cause of freedom in Venezuela.– said Machado, assuring that the movement she represents demonstrated the “victory of the democrats over the dictatorship” in the last elections.

“Today our struggle continues because the truth will endure until it prevails.“Said the Leader of the Opposition after receiving the bonus, which in turn comes with 60,000 euros.

At the opening of the ceremony, the President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), Theodoros Roussopoulos, emphasized that six of the last eleven recipients of this award are currently in prison.

Until recently, one of them was the Russian journalist and politician Vladimir Kara Murza, who received this distinction in 2022 and was released in August of this year. He also addressed the Assembly this Monday and Machado praisedor “his testimony about the struggle for a free Russia.”

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The other two nominees were an Azerbaijani human rights defender and activist. Akif Gurbanov, in preventive detention in Baku, and Georgian feminist activist and lawyer Babutsa Pataraiapresent at the ceremony.

Europe Press