The Venezuelan President Elect and opposition leader, Edmundo González Urrutia, received the Sakharov Prize for freedom of conscience on Tuesday and assured that he accepts it “with gratitude but above all with immense responsibility”, while warning that the violence all suffer from the Venezuelan regime is “a clumsy instrument to postpone the inevitable”.
“Those who want to kidnap what belongs to all Venezuelans know that sooner rather than later our country will resume the course that our people have already set,” said the President elect before the European Parliament.
González Urrutia received the Sakharov Prize for freedom of conscience awarded annually by the European Parliament on Tuesday, together with Ana Corina Sosa, the daughter of María Corina Machado, who was unable to go to France to collect the award that recognises the work of both as leaders of the Venezuelan opposition.
“We know well that this fight is not and will not be easy. Our political prisoners, whose number, unfortunately, the dictatorship has taken upon itself to increase exponentially in recent months, know this better than anyone. As demonstrated by the experience of those who have previously received this award, the long road to freedom has always been fraught with difficulties,” lamented González Urrutia.
Video: @EdmundoGU
The Venezuelan opposition leader, who gave his speech in Spanish, English and French, pointed out that “no government that is based on violence is stable” and reiterated that his personal commitment is to “reach out to all actors willing to bring positions closer together to advance along this path of national harmony and unity.”
María Corina Machado, who remains in hiding in Venezuela due to the risk of reprisals and imprisonment by Maduro’s regime, also intervened in a video message.
“Our struggle shows what a deeply mistreated society can achieve when, rowing against the current and overcoming obstacles, it decides to advance united along the path of good. Venezuela has changed, we will never be the same again. Because of the nature of this epic movement, we know that we will triumph,” Machado told in her address to the chamber.
The Venezuelan opposition leader said that during the last quarter of a century the regime has tried to pit Venezuelans against each other and divide them, as well as weaken the family nucleus, destroy democratic institutions and suffocate the economy.
“But that prostrate Venezuela reacted. Against all odds that divided society decided to meet again and rise from its ashes,” Machado celebrated.
The President of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola, conveyed to both that the award recognizes “their tireless efforts to restore freedom and democracy in Venezuela and to ensure a fair, free and peaceful transition of power.”
“They have risked everything for the values that millions of Venezuelans and this Parliament hold so dear: justice, democracy and the rule of law,” said Metsola, who was convinced that the “iron fist of Nicolás Maduro cannot crush the spirit and the voices of the Venezuelan people who take to the streets to demand democracy and justice,” the “true essence of freedom of thought.”
In a press conference before the award ceremony, Metsola said that she will again convey to all the heads of state and government of the European Union her push to try to get them to recognise González as the elected president of Venezuela, something that the European Parliament did do but for which there is still no consensus among the EU governments.
“We have consistently been on the side of the Venezuelan people. In the first European Council that I attended after the July elections, this is the message that I gave to the leaders and this is the message that I will take with me, including the day after tomorrow,” she said, referring to the summit of leaders that will be held this Thursday in Brussels.
EFE