Venezuela: has the end of María Corina Machado come?

The persecution against María Corina Machado left her out of the running as a presidential candidate in Venezuela. Some are betting that she will deflate as her predecessors did, crushed by the trap of authoritarianism; while others attribute a strong influence on the events to come. Her campaign motto was "until the end." So, in the air, there are doubts about her next steps.

Machado ran a year-long marathon to galvanize voters, organize them, and generate expectations that change is possible. He toured the country by land, since the Government prohibited plane tickets from being sold to him. He swept the opposition primaries on October 22, 2023. Last December, the Supreme Court of Justice ratified an unconstitutional disqualification against him for 15 years. In recent weeks the Government issued orders to arrest six people from his first support ring, among them whom it considers to be his right-hand man. Other members of the Vente party have been arrested. Shock groups from the ruling party have attacked their meetings. The constant threat weighs on her. The feat has earned him popular support that gives him a voting intention of over 60 percent. She is credited with awakening a feeling of hope. However, enjoying popular love is no guarantee in Venezuela.

On March 22, Machado had to present an alternative to his frustrated candidacy. It was the philosopher Corina Yoris, a woman with an impeccable career and in full possession of the powers to exercise her political rights. The sieve imposed by the Chavista government did not pass either.

“The system does not open”, “that name does not pass the filter”, “no, that candidacy is not drinkable”. On March 21, the five-day period to nominate candidates for the 2024 elections began. The National Electoral Council decided to grant "shifts" for authorized political parties to register candidates through an online format. Democratic forces tried to enter Corina Yoris's name for hours. The effort was useless. It was not a technical problem.

Faced with pressure because the general deadline was up, names came and went, but were rejected again and again by a counterpart that did not consider them viable, says a source who was involved with the opposition Unitary Platform.

Between the night of Holy Monday and the early hours of Tuesday, the table was set with 13 candidates. They are all men. Some of them with a caveman posture. The name of candidate 13 was known many hours later. His name is Edmundo González Urrutia, a man who enjoys prestige among his peers, although he was unknown in the media sphere. He was given the status of “cover candidate” because his nomination is temporary. It was the “concession” that the government made so that the Platform could maintain its position.

The Government put pressure on the Unitary Platform to register the governor of Zulia, Manuel Rosales, who, at five minutes to twelve, registered for his party, Un Nuevo Tiempo, one of the most influential of the Platform.

So the unit is no longer united.

On Tuesday, March 26, Machado offered a press conference, in which he confirmed his support for Yoris, while some demanded that, as a great voter, he support Rosales. She had words of encouragement for her followers and confirmed that she would continue on the electoral route. However, her path is not really clear.

For Maryhem Jimenez, a student of authoritarian systems and opposition organizations in these contexts, the challenge for democratic forces in Venezuela is to depersonalize the option for change and give it a collective character.

“In an authoritarian context, the Government seeks to disqualify a person to thereby close the electoral path,” he states. The academic has insisted on the creation of an institutional body that removes the opposition from messianic political tendencies. She also suggests working on narratives that favor collective growth.

In this sense, Ana María González Oxford, electoral campaign consultant, comments that in reality in Venezuela the candidacy is the change. She remembers that 80% of the country speaks out for this. At the same time, she states that unfortunately Rosales does not fit that profile.

“The Government (the PSUV leadership) has made an existential decision: we will not hold any election that we could lose. The only black swan that would remain, if we continue with the already totalitarian trend, is to call to vote at the last minute for the best positioned of the

potable ones

and assume the consequences of the situation that occurred on July 28-29," a student of the chavismo, who asks not to disclose his name.

From the toolbox that the Maduro Government has to influence the results of this process, on this occasion it resorted to division and terror. However, by showing an Electoral Power totally dominated by the Executive, it was exposed, once again. For this reason, the Governments of Colombia and Brazil issued separate statements in which they expressed their concern about the direction this electoral process has taken.

Not only Machado was excluded from the race. There is no left-wing candidacy opposing Maduro, because the Government took representation from the Communist Party of Venezuela.

With all this picture, it is nonsense to attribute to Machado any responsibility for how the next events develop. However, there are doubts about how it will maintain its influence without negatively impacting citizens' intention to vote or how it will preserve one of its most valuable assets, which is coherence, when the electoral process is increasingly revealed. stale.

In his most recent statements when asked about the future, Machado answers: one day at a time. Given his career, it is possible to assure that this is not the end for him, but it is not that he has easy challenges either. She has great political capital. It's up to her to manage it very well.

Follow all the information from El PAÍS América on

Facebook

and

X

, or in our

weekly newsletter

.

Subscribe to continue reading

Read without limits

Keep reading

I am already a subscriber

_