As “the final chapter of a work that has shed blood, sweat and tears” and caused “anxiety” among the population after the presidential elections of July 28, he defined the Attorney General of Venezuela, Tarek William Saabthe exit of Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia of the country.
For Chavismo, the opposition candidate’s request for political asylum in Spain is a “sad spectacle”as published Diosdado Hairnew Minister of the Interior and Justice, who wrote on his social networks: “the ‘regime’ is still standing (…) we have warned you many times: whatever happens, we will win.”
However, Chavism a few weeks ago also concluded “the post-election chapter” with the ratification of the results by the Supreme Court of Justice.
Meanwhile, sadness, uncertainty, anger and even disappointment have overwhelmed some Venezuelan opponents, who fell asleep Saturday night with the departure of González Urrutia from Venezuela and others woke up on Sunday to unexpected news.
“And now?”, “they (the regime) got away with it again”, “we can’t trust politicians”, “how sad”, were some of the reactions on social networks. There were those who called for calm and to wait for a statement, or even an explanation from the opposition candidate and Maria Corina Machado. While others claimed to have faith and hope that this is not the end.
Faced with strong repression, the almost 2,000 political prisoners and more than 20 dead In the post-electoral context, the citizens of the South American nation have nothing else to do but continue working and living in the midst of a situation that still has no clear political outcome, despite the fact that the Maduro regime insists on closing the chapter.
According to Machado, González Urrutia’s decision to go into exile in Spain was due to protect your life and freedom. In addition, she insists that she will continue the fight from outside, alongside the diaspora, while she does so from Venezuela. While the former opposition candidate said upon his arrival in Madrid that his departure from the country, “she was surrounded by episodes, coercion and pressure” to prevent his exile.
In the midst of this situation, Machado seems to be alone in Venezuela as the main opposition leader. With a candidate in exile, the main members of his working team refugees at the headquarters of the Argentine embassy in Caracasand other imprisoned members of the main opposition coalition, including his lawyer Perkins Rocha. The political struggle against Nicolas Maduro’s regime is not going to be easy at all.
There are still four months to go until, on January 10, 2025, someone is sworn in as Venezuela’s new constitutional president until 2031 in the National Assembly. The person in charge would be González Urrutia, according to the minutes presented by the opposition and the more than 7 million votes he obtained. But on the other hand, the current president and his allies assure that “Maduro will stay for a while.”
The political persecution of Machado
The current opposition leader, María Corina Machado, has been against Chavism for more than 20 years. First, to the two governments of Hugo Chavez then to the two mandates he already has Nicolas Maduro.
During these two decades He received all kinds of insults, threats and even legal measures from the ruling party.
Since she was president of the civil association Súmate, the organization that coordinated the 2002 recall referendum against Chávez, she has been accused of “coup d’état and anti-patria” by the deceased president.
Later and after being elected as a Member of Parliament in 2010, she was dismissed from her post in 2014 for an alleged violation of the Constitutionafter declaring before the Organization of American States (OAS) the situation in Venezuela with the position provided by Panama. For this reason, she was politically disqualified in 2015 by the Office of the Comptroller General.
In 2023 – in the middle of the political campaign for the opposition primary elections – they ratify the disqualification for an additional 15 years. But despite this restriction, he won the race with more than two million votes.
However, when registering at the university Corina Yoriswho would represent her as a candidate in the July 28 elections, was not allowed to do so either. For this reason, at the last minute the main opposition coalition and with the approval of Machado, González Urrutia has become the standard-bearer of the opposition confront Maduro.
However, the persecution did not stop there. After the National Electoral Council (CNE) gave results in the early hours of July 29 – which are not recognized by the international community or the opposition – and which declared Nicolas Maduro the winner, Machado and the United Platform published the minutes with the results table by table.
Since then, Maduro and his allies, on national television and in various speeches, They demanded prison sentences against the opposition leader and González UrrutiaFrom that moment on, Machado had to go into hiding to avoid arrest. Thus, for more than a month, he continued to lead political decisions after the July 28 elections.
At the same time, he insists that greater pressure will be exerted so that the regime finally accepts a transition, but he asks Venezuelans serenity, courage and firmness in the face of what it defines as a “brutal wave of repression” described by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) as state terrorism.
“Broad conversations”
The Executive Vice President, Delcy Rodriguezreiterated this Sunday that Venezuela had had “in-depth conversations” with Spain for the departure of Edmundo González Urrutia, while the Spanish government denies any “political negotiation” with any “counterpart” between the two countries.
“Many conversations and contacts have taken place to operationalize the game “The opposition leader González Urrutia of the country with all the guarantees offered by a safe conduct, the result of the agreement between the two governments,” Rodriguez said on his Telegram channel.
The official responded to the statements of the Spanish Minister of Foreign Affairs, Jose Manuel Albaresto TVE, which did not deny that there had been conversations on the subject, but rejected the existence of negotiations with counterpartiesand insisted that the asylum and transfer to Madrid had been requested personally by the anti-Chavist and that the government of Pedro Sánchez had granted it.
