Brussels (Brussels Morning Newspaper) – Venezuelan opposition leaders María Corina Machado and Edmundo González Urrutia were awarded the 2024 Sakharov Prize, highlighting the fight for democracy.
European Parliament President Roberta Metsola will present the award of the 2024 Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought to María Corina Machado and Edmundo González Urrutia from Venezuela.
The leader of Venezuela’s democratic parties and the opposition contender in the July presidential elections has been picked for the 2024 Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought. Parliament’s President Roberta Metsola notified the winners of the 2024 Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought in Oct 2024.
Mr. González Urrutia, who was acknowledged by the European Parliament as the fair and democratically elected President of Venezuela, fled the country in September 2024 after an arrest warrant was issued against him. He will observe the Sakharov Prize award ceremony in person. Ana Corina Sosa, daughter and spokesperson of María Corina Machado, the opposition leader of Venezuela’s “Unity Democratic Platform’, will also be in Strasbourg.
In 2023, Ms. Machado was chosen as the opposition’s nominee for the 2024 presidential election but was later rejected by Maduro’s government. Mr. González Urrutia, a delegate and politician who followed her as the opposition’s candidate, challenged Mr. Maduro’s fraudulent win.
Moreover, the European Parliament’s Committees on Foreign Affairs and Development and the Subcommittee on Human Rights will conduct a joint exchange of views with the 2024 Sakharov Prize laureates, María Corina Machado and President-elect Edmundo González Urrutia.
