Sakharov Prize: Edmundo González Urrutia and María Corina Machado, faces of the opposition to Maduro in Venezuela, are the winners
Venezuelan politicians Edmundo González Urrutia and María Corina Machado are the winners of the Sakharov Prize, for freedom of thought, awarded by the European Parliament.
The announcement was made late in the morning by the President of the European Parliament. Roberta Metsola says that Edmundo González and Maria Corina Machado represent all Venezuelans, inside and outside the country, who fight to restore freedom and democracy.
“Edmundo and María have continued to fight for a fair, free and peaceful transition of power and have fearlessly defended the values that millions of Venezuelans and this Parliament value so much: justice, democracy and the rule of law”, he stated in the hemicycle, in Strasbourg, before MEPs, who stood up to applaud.
The winner of the Sakharov Prize was decided by the leaders of the various political groups. Finalists also included the Israeli and Palestinian movements Women Wage Peace and Women of the Sun, and Azerbaijani academic and anti-corruption activist Gubad Ibadoghlu. They were all remembered this Wednesday, in the European Parliament.
“I would like to extend this Assembly’s unconditional support to the other Sakharov Prize finalists,” said Roberta Metsola. “They are all courageously defending human rights and freedom of thought in the face of unimaginable challenges.” In the case of Ibadoghlu, under house arrest, the Maltese adds that “his health condition has deteriorated significantly” and calls on “the Azerbaijani authorities to drop all charges” against the activist and lift the travel ban.
Everyone will now be invited to be present in Strasbourg, on December 18th, for the award ceremony. Not invited by the European Parliament is Elon Musk. He had been nominated for Sakharov by far-right groups: the Patriots, to which Chega belongs, and also Europe of Sovereign Nations. However, as he was not a finalist, he will not be present at the award ceremony.
The candidacy of Edmundo González Urrutia and Maria Corina Machado for the award was an initiative of the PSD delegation, supported by the CDS, and the Spanish delegation to the European People’s Party, which later included it as a single proposal from the PPE group. The Conservatives and Reformists (radical right) bench had also proposed the name of the Venezuelan politician, who is in exile in Spain and who is the target of an arrest warrant, following the presidential elections, whose victory claimed by Nicolás Maduro is put in question cause internationally, by independent observers, including the United Nations.
In September, the European Parliament also recognized Edmundo González as the legitimate and democratically elected president of Venezuela and María Corina Machado as leader of the democratic forces in the country. The resolution, whose approval broke the pro-European majority and generated controversyalso condemns “the electoral fraud orchestrated by the National Electoral Council, controlled by the regime” of Nicolás Maduro, “which refused to make the official results public”.
The Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought is the EU’s highest human rights award. It is named after the Soviet physicist and political dissident Andrei Sakharov and has been awarded every year since 1988 by the European Parliament, associated with a cash prize of 50 thousand euros. It distinguishes individuals and organizations for their work in defense of human rights and fundamental rights. O The first winner was South African Nelson Mandela.
