María Corina Machado, through a video, expressed that she was moved and honored by the award. Delsa Solórzano dedicated the award to young Venezuelans who are fighting “in every corner of the country to obtain that democracy and freedom that they don’t even know, that they don’t know what it is.”
The opposition represented by María Corina Machado and Delsa Solórzano was awarded the night of this Thursday, December 5, with the Bush-Thatcher Prize for Freedom, the highest award granted by the World Center-Right Alliance (IDU).
Both policies are in hiding after the awarding of the presidential election to Nicolás Maduro. For this reason, Maritza Rondón and David Smolansky received the award in Washington, in the United States, at a special gala.
The Bush-Thatcher Freedom Prize is named after former US President George HW Bush and former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. Both were founders of this organization.
Machado, through a video, expressed feeling moved and honored by the award. In addition, she said she felt honored to share it with Solórzano, with whom she has traveled a long and challenging path in recent months.
The award demonstrates the importance of freedom, democracy and respect for human rights. In his speech, he emphasized the results of the recent elections in the country, which he considers unequivocal. He also highlighted the historic effort of the opposition, which, through an epic campaign, managed to ensure that Edmundo González Urrutia, candidate of the Democratic Unitary Platform (PUD), won the presidential elections, obtaining almost 70% of the votes.
He highlighted how hundreds of witnesses worked together in the elections to collect and digitize the minutes that certified González Urrutia’s victory.
Solórzano, for his part, dedicated the award to young Venezuelans. “We are nothing more than the image, the face of a nation that raises its voice daily for freedom and democracy,” said the president of Encuentro Ciudadano.
Solórzano, who spoke during the award ceremony via video call, dedicated the award to young Venezuelans who are fighting “in every corner of the country to obtain that democracy and freedom that they do not even know, that they do not know what it is.”
She continued: “I am honored to accompany María Corina Machado in this fight, we two are nothing more than the image, the face of a nation that raises its voice daily for freedom and democracy, principles and values that should govern any nation, but unfortunately today they are foreign to mine.”
*Read also: File against Machado grows along with the political cost of his arrest
The opposition leader recalled, before the members of the IDU, that there are eight million Venezuelans in exile “who have had to leave the country looking for what it does not give them: peace, democracy, freedom, security, economic guarantees, the possibility of future and progress.”
“There are nearly 2,000 prisoners of conscience in the dungeons of the dictatorship whose only crime has been daring to express a critical thought. This recognition is also for them, for every older adult, every young person, every father and mother who continues to fight for democracy,” he said, according to a press release.
The Bush-Thatcher Freedom Prize recognizes outstanding contributions made by a member of the IDU, a party or an individual, towards the promotion of the fundamental values defended by the IDU: freedom, democracy, human rights and the rule of law.
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