Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado received the Václav Havel Human Rights Prize from the Council of Europe on Monday, in recognition of her work as a "defender" of democracy.
The news, celebrated on the social network X, was announced by the President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, Theodoros Rousopoulos, according to the EFE agency.
This is a historic fact, as for the first time the prestigious award, granted for the first time in 2013 to Belarusian human rights defender Ales Bialiatski, was given to a person from Latin America.
Due to the threats from Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his regime, María Corina was unable to attend the ceremony in Strasbourg in person, where her daughter, Ana Corina Sosa, received the award on her behalf.
During a video conference, Machado expressed his regret for being unable to travel and emphasized the significance of the award for “all those who fight together for the cause of freedom in Venezuela.”
"The award is immense not only for me but for all those who fight for freedom in Venezuela," he stated before the Assembly of the Council of Europe, according to the cited agency.
The Council of Europe, which has 46 members and is not part of the European Union, was founded in 1949 with the purpose of promoting the rule of law, the integration of the continent, and the defense of human rights.
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