Venezuelan opposition figure Machado wins European rights award

NEWS WIRES

30 September 2024 at 8:48 am·1-min read

Venezuelan opposition figure Maria Corina Machado said Monday she was "honoured" to receive a European human rights prize for her efforts to defend democracy following Venezuela's presidential elections in July. Machado is now in hiding in Venezuela as members of her inner circle have been arrested.

The Council of Europe on Monday awarded its 2024 rights prize to Venezuelan opposition figure Maria Corina Machado for her struggle for democracy under President Nicolas Maduro's iron-fisted rule.

Machado said she was "deeply moved, honoured and grateful" to be the first Latin American to win the award, named after the late Czech dissident, playwright and post-communist president Vaclav Havel.

She is currently in hiding in Venezuela in the wake of presidential elections Maduro claims to have won, an outcome furiously contested by the opposition.

Watch more'Maduro is weaker and weaker,' says Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado

The award was received on her behalf at Council of Europe headquarters in Strasbourg by her daughter Ana.

Kara-Murza was present for the ceremony in Strasbourg following his release earlier this year after over two years behind bars in Russia.

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