The Venezuelan opposition activist María Corina Machado has been awarded the Václav Havel Human Rights Prize awarded each year by the Council of Europe. This award, which aims to reward the outstanding action of civil society in the defense of human rights in Europe and beyond, is awarded each year by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), in collaboration with the Václav Havel Library and the Charta 77 Foundation.
The prize of 60,000 euros was collected at a ceremony in Strasbourg and on behalf of María Corina Machado, her daughter Ana, as it was impossible for her mother to leave the country due to being under threats from the Nicolás Maduro regime, the organization explained. Presenting the award to his daughter, PACE President Theodoros Rousopoulos stressed that the Council of Europe “stands alongside those who risk their lives to make our societies more democratic and fair.”
PACE highlights that María Corina Machado is a well-known political figure in Venezuela and is involved in denouncing human rights abuses in her country and defending democracy and the rule of law.
The Venezuelan opposition member, who after being vetoed by the Maduro regime to run for elections in Venezuela, has feared for her life and freedom since this August, has addressed the assembly telematically from Venezuela and said she was “deeply moved, honored and grateful” for being the first Latin American to win the distinction. “I want to dedicate this recognition to the millions of Venezuelans who, every day, embody Havel’s values and ideas, some without even realizing it.”
“Today our fight continues, because the truth persists until it prevails,” he added before stating that the movement he leads has demonstrated “the victory of the Democrats over the dictatorship” in the recent elections.
The other two finalist nominees were Azerbaijani human rights defender and activist Akif Gurbanov, who is currently in pre-trial detention in Baku, and Georgian feminist activist and human rights lawyer Babutsa Pataraia, who was present at the ceremony. As part of the ceremony, Russian opposition leader Vladimir Kara Murza, who was detained in Russia when he was awarded the Havel Prize in 2022 and was released in August this year as part of a prisoner exchange, also addressed the assembly.
When opening the award ceremony, the president of PACE denounced that, today, 6 of the 11 previous winners of the Havel Prize are in prison and took the opportunity to request their immediate release. “These individuals committed only one ‘crime’: they simply wanted to make their voices heard, to share their vision of a just and free society.”
Since its inception, the prize has been awarded to Osman Kavala (2023), Vladimir Kara-Murza (2022), Maria Kalesnikava (2021), Loujain Alhathloul (2020), jointly to Ilham Tohti and the Youth Initiative for Human Rights (2019 ), Oyub Titiev (2018), Murat Arslan (2017), Nadia Murad (2016), Ludmilla Alexeeva (2015), Anar Mammadli (2014) and Ales Bialiatski (2013).
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