Sakharov Prize awarded to opponents of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro

Photo: Ariana Cubillos Associated Press Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia and Mariana Corina Machado, at the launch of the opposition presidential campaign, May 18, in Caracas.

Pauline Froissart – Agence France-Presse in Strasbourg

Published at 7:33 a.m. Updated at 10:34 a.m.

• Amériques

The Sakharov Prize, the European Union's highest human rights award, was awarded on Thursday to Maria Corina Machado and Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia, respectively leader and candidate of the Venezuelan opposition in the July presidential election.

“Edmundo and Maria have continued to fight for a free, fair and peaceful transition of power,” said European Parliament President Roberta Metsola. They have defended the values ​​“that are dear to millions of Venezuelans and to this Parliament: justice, democracy and the rule of law.”

“We are convinced that Venezuela and democracy will ultimately prevail,” she said in plenary session to loud applause.

For Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia, this award is proof of “the deep solidarity of the peoples of Europe with the Venezuelan people and their struggle to regain democracy.” “The fight is not over,” he wrote on the social network X

Since the contested re-election of President Nicolas Maduro, Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia, 75, has taken refuge in Spain and Maria Corina Machado, 57, is living in hiding.

The two opponents had been proposed by the European People's Party (right, the leading political force in Parliament).

200% Deposit Bonus up to €3,000 180% First Deposit Bonus up to $20,000

They were also supported by the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) group, which includes elected representatives from Giorgia Meloni's far-right Fratelli d'Italia party. ECR Co-President Nicola Procaccini hailed the award as “a sign of support for all peoples who have been living in conditions of oppression for many years.”

The winners were chosen at a meeting of the leaders of the political groups in Parliament, who were divided over who would win.

Read also

• Opposition leader stays in Venezuela to “accompany the struggle”
• Venezuelan opposition candidate welcomed in Spain, where he has requested asylum

“Missed opportunity”

The French delegation of the Socialists and Democrats group, which had proposed awarding the prize to “Women Wage Peace” and “Women of the Sun”, two Israeli and Palestinian pacifist organisations, deplored “a missed opportunity to promote peace and reconciliation” in the Middle East.

MEP Manon Aubry, co-chair of the Left group, regretted for her part a “new right/far right alliance to misuse the Sakharov Prize by awarding it to the Venezuelan opposition ».

The third finalist selected this year was Gubad Ibadoghlu, an economist and activist in detention in Azerbaijan, supported by the Green group.

The health of this activist “is currently deteriorating significantly”, Roberta Metsola warned. “He is being held under house arrest following his arbitrary detention,” she continued, calling on Azerbaijani authorities to drop all charges against him and lift his travel ban.

The European far right, including the Patriots group led by Jordan Bardella, had unsuccessfully proposed awarding the prize to billionaire Elon Musk for his contribution to “freedom of expression.”

The Sakharov Prize, worth €50,000 (CA$74,500), is named after Soviet dissident and nuclear physicist Andrei Sakharov, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1975.

Maria Corina Machado had won the Venezuelan primaries in 2023 with the aim of running as a candidate for the democratic opposition (United Platform) in the July 2024 presidential elections, but the authorities banned her from running and Mr. Gonzalez Urrutia had agreed to represent the opposition.

At the end of the vote, the outgoing Venezuelan president, Nicolás Maduro (United Socialist Party of Venezuela, PSUV) was declared the winner of the election with 52% of the vote, results that were not recognized by the European Union, the United States and several Latin American countries.

The opposition claims that Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia won with more than 67% of the vote. voice.

Since then, spontaneous demonstrations have left 27 dead and around 200 injured. Some 2,400 people have been arrested, according to official sources.

On 30 September, Ms Machado received the Vaclav Havel Human Rights Prize from the Council of Europe. The first Latin American to win the prize, she responded by stating, via videoconference, that “the dictatorship” in her country was heading towards its “inevitable fall”.

A Sakharov Prize award ceremony will be held on 18 December at the European Parliament in Strasbourg.