The Sakharov Prize is the European Union's highest honor for human rights. It was given in Strasbourg, this Tuesday, December 17, to two Venezuelans: the opponent Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia, in exile since the July presidential election in which he claims victory, and Maria Corina Machado, the leader of the opposition who lives in clandestinity since the election.
“We hope that this day will mark the beginning of a new era, a democratic era in Venezuela,” the opponent told AFP, from the European Parliament where the award ceremony took place.
In Venezuela on January 10 to “take office”
The re-election of Nicolas Maduro (United Socialist Party of Venezuela, PSUV) on July 28, for a third six-year term, was strongly contested by the opposition, which estimates that its candidate won with more than 67% of the votes. votes. The swearing-in for the 2025-2031 term is scheduled for January 10. Nicolas Maduro called on his supporters “to take to the streets by the millions to swear an oath to Venezuela, to independence, to the Bolivarian homeland”.
Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia, exiled in Spain, for his part announced that he would return to Venezuela on January 10 to “take up his functions”. “We believe that we must respect the sovereignty and the decision of the Venezuelan people who expressed their desire to have me as president,” Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia told AFP, assuring that he was not worried about the possible consequences of this. back. “We don’t care. We have one objective, to work on the reconstruction of our country because politically speaking, it is destroyed. »
Maria Corina Machado represented by her daughter
Maria Corina Machado was not present in Strasbourg but she participated in the awards ceremony remotely. She was represented in Strasbourg by her daughter Ana Corina Sosa. “We look forward to January 10, when our president-elect will take power,” she told AFP of Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia.
She assured that her mother, who has lived in hiding since the election, “will be by his side when he does.”
“I am worried for her safety but I am confident that we will emerge victorious from this phase, that she will be safe and that I will be by her side very soon,” said Ana Corina Sosa. “Whatever the government throws at us, we will be resilient. We will move forward and make our voice heard on January 10,” she added.
In addition to the Sakharov Prize, which bears the name of Soviet dissident and nuclear physicist Andreï Sakharov, Nobel Peace Prize winner in 1975, Maria Corina Machado received the Vaclav Havel Human Rights Prize from the Council of Europe in September. The 57-year-old Venezuelan had won the primaries in 2023 with the objective of running as a candidate for the democratic opposition (United Platform) in the presidential election of July 2024 but the authorities banned her from running and Gonzalez Urrutia had agreed to wear the colors of the opposition.
The United States, Europe and many Latin American countries do not recognize Maduro's re-election. In November, the US government announced it would recognize Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia as the country's president-elect, which President Nicolas Maduro's regime deemed “ridiculous.”
In Venezuela, more than 2,400 people were imprisoned in the hours following the announcement of President Maduro's victory during demonstrations that left 28 dead and nearly 200 injured.
