The Venezuelan opposition leader spoke to Euronews while receiving the Sakharov Prize from the European Parliament in Strasbourg.
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Venezuelan dissident Edmundo González Urrutia walked unsteadily through the corridors of the European Parliament on Tuesday after receiving the Sakharov Prize, but he remained firm on his intention to return to Venezuela after January 10, declaring that no one leaves not at war “with fear”.
January 10 marks the inauguration of the new president of the Latin American state. This is Nicolás Maduro, according to Venezuelan authorities, but his victory in the July 28 presidential election has been called into question by a group of United Nations experts, as well as the United States and the Union. European.
“The vast majority of the electorate spoke strongly in my favor”Edmundo González Urrutia told Euronews on Tuesday, after receiving the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought from Parliament President Roberta Metsola at a ceremony in Strasbourg.
His co-winner María Corina Machado, leader of the Democratic Platform of Venezuelan Unity, is still in Venezuela, without the authorities knowing her whereabouts, and was represented by her daughter Ana Corina Sosa.
On the other hand, Edmundo González Urrutia left the country in September after an arrest warrant was issued and took refuge in Spain, which granted him political asylum.
He has always denounced the fact that the Venezuelan government did not publish the official results of the presidential election and provided evidence of the votes in favor of his candidacy in the press room of the European Parliament.
And he is now ready to return, defying the attitude of the Venezuelan government, described as repression “unprecedented” by the United Nations, with thousands detained following post-election protests.
Edmundo González Urrutia says he wants Venezuela by road “land, air or sea”.
In his speech to MEPs, Edmundo González Urrutia recalled previous winners of the Sakharov Prize, including South African leader Nelson Mandela, Czech politician Alexander Dubcek, Russian dissident Alexei Navalny and Cubans Oswaldo Payá and Guillermo Fariñas .
“Everyone who received this award deserved it. We are convinced that this award will help us follow the same path with the support of the European democratic community”he told Euronews, when asked who inspired his political fight.
A contested recognition
In addition to the Sakharov Prize, the European Parliament recognized Edmundo González Urrutia as the legitimate president of Venezuela in a resolution approved on September 19.
But the EU failed to recognize him as president because not all member states agreed. However, Edmundo González Urrutia claims to have the support of European governments in his fight against the regime of Nicolas Maduro.
“All governments have their own way of showing support. Some do it explicitly. Others do it in other ways. But overall, most European governments support the cause of Venezuela’s democratic recovery, whether I represent”he declared
Edmundo González Urrutia also met with the head of EU diplomacy, Kaja Kallas, who expressed her support. But any new concrete measure of support from the EU requires unanimity, which is not easy to achieve, as we saw last August when EU foreign ministers denied the democratic legitimacy of Nicolas Maduro, but avoided imposing new sanctions on Venezuelan officials.
