The Václav Havel Human Rights Prize – which honours outstanding civil-society action in defence of human rights – has been awarded to leading Venezuelan political figure and rights defender María Corina Machado.

The prize is awarded each year by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE).

The €60,000 prize was presented to the winner’s daughter Ana at a special ceremony on the opening day of PACE’s autumn plenary session in Strasbourg yesterday (30 September).

Corina Machado is a co-founder and former leader of Venezuelan vote-monitoring and citizens’ rights group Súmate, a former member of Venezuela’s National Assembly and, currently, the national co-ordinator of the Vente Venezuela political movement.

‘Democrats over dictatorship’

Barred from running in Venezuela’s recent presidential election, she went into hiding in August 2024, declaring that she feared for her life, her freedom, and that of her fellow citizens.

PACE President Theodoros Rousopoulos pointed out that six of the 11 previous winners of the Havel Prize were in prison, and urged their immediate release.

Corina Machado, addressing the assembly remotely from Venezuela, said that she was “deeply moved, honoured, and grateful” to be the first Latin American to win the distinction.

Her movement had demonstrated “the victory of democrats over dictatorship” in Venezuela’s recent elections, she said.