<h6><strong>Julio García/Aquí Europa</strong></h6> <h4><strong>The leader of Venezuela's democratic forces, María Corina Machado, and the opposition candidate in the July presidential elections, Edmundo González Urrutia, have been awarded the 2024 Sakharov Prize.</strong></h4> “The 2024 Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought is awarded to María Corina Machado and President-elect Edmundo González Urrutia for their courageous struggle to restore freedom and democracy in Venezuela,” announced this Thursday before the chamber the President of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola, after the meeting of the Conference of Presidents, which made the decision. “In their quest for a fair, free and peaceful transition of power, they have fearlessly defended the values that millions of Venezuelans and the European Parliament hold so dear: justice, democracy and the rule of law,” she continued, quoted in a press release from the European Parliament. “The European Parliament stands with the people of Venezuela and with María Corina Machado and President-elect Edmundo González Urrutia in their fight for the democratic future of their country. This prize is for them,” she concluded. The award ceremony for the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought will take place on 18 December in Strasbourg, during the plenary session of the Parliament. The Prize, named after the Soviet physicist and political dissident Andrei Sakharov, is the highest human rights award in the EU. Created in 1988, it is awarded annually by Parliament to individuals or organisations in recognition of their work in one of the following areas: the defence of human rights and fundamental rights, in particular freedom of expression, safeguarding the rights of minorities, respect for international law, the development of democracy and the defence of the rule of law. <h5><strong>Machado and González</strong></h5> María Corina Machado was elected as the Venezuelan opposition's presidential candidate on behalf of the 'Democratic Platform of Unity' in 2023, but was then disqualified by the regime-controlled National Electoral Council. Diplomat and politician Edmundo González Urrutia, who succeeded her as the candidate of the Democratic Platform of Unity, denounced that the Venezuelan government has not published the official results of the presidential elections and questioned the declared victory of Nicolás Maduro. González Urrutia left the country on 8 September after an arrest warrant was issued against her. He has since been in Spain. In a resolution adopted on 19 September 2024, the European Parliament condemned “electoral fraud” and the serious and systematic human rights violations perpetrated against the democratic opposition, the Venezuelan people and civil society and stressed that international election observation missions made it clear that the Venezuelan presidential elections did not meet international standards of electoral integrity. MEPs also recognised Edmundo González Urrutia as the “legitimate and democratically elected president” of the country and María Corina Machado as the leader of the democratic forces. In the aforementioned resolution, Parliament called on the EU to expand sanctions against the Venezuelan regime and to apply targeted sanctions through the EU Global Human Rights Sanctions Regime against President Nicolás Maduro and his inner circle. Ahead of the election, the European Parliament urged member states to maintain sanctions imposed on the Maduro regime and criticised the unconstitutional decision to prevent prominent opposition figures such as María Corina Machado from running in the 2024 elections. The vote in the European Parliament took place a week after the Spanish Congress of Deputies approved a non-legislative motion by the PP to the same effect, which was approved thanks to the support of the PNV and was rejected by PSOE deputies. According to the Venezuelan government, 2,400 people were arrested during the demonstrations that followed the election and non-governmental organisations have reported the deaths of 24 people. María Corina Machado remains in hiding, while Edmundo González Urrutia fled to Spain, which granted him political asylum on 7 September.
