People in Venezuela demonstrated against authoritarian President Maduro for weeks. Now the EU Parliament is identifying the faces of the protests.
The European Parliament’s Sakharov Prize goes to the Venezuelan opposition activists María Corina Machado and Edmundo González Urrutia. “In their pursuit of a just, free and peaceful transition of power, they fearlessly defended values that are so dear to millions of Venezuelans and the European Parliament: justice, democracy and the rule of law,” said the EU Parliament in Strasbourg.
The 56-year-old opposition leader Machado was not allowed to run in the presidential election in the South American country in July due to a ban on holding public office that has been in place for years. Opposition candidate González ran for them.
The elections in Venezuela were marred by allegations of fraud. The loyal electoral authority had declared the authoritarian head of state Nicolás Maduro, who has been in power for eleven years, as the winner. However, she did not publish the detailed results. The opposition speaks of election fraud and claims victory for González, and people around the world are protesting against Maduro. The USA, the European Union and numerous Latin American countries also doubt the result.
Machado went into hiding over the summer. González was pursued by an arrest warrant in Venezuela, fled to Spain almost four weeks ago and received political asylum there.
The Sakharov Prize has been awarded by the European Parliament since 1988 to individuals or organizations committed to the defense of human rights and freedom of expression.
Source: Stern
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