Maduro assures that María Corina Machado “fled to Spain” and she denies it: “I am still here in Venezuela”

The government of Venezuela assured this Wednesday that opposition leader “María Corina Machado fled the country to Spain”where the flag bearer of the opposition coalition, Edmundo González Urrutia, is exiled. Some statements, hours later, were denied by Machado herself, who said she was still in Venezuela.

During a televised event, the president Nicolas Maduro – proclaimed re-elected by the Venezuelan National Electoral Council (CNE) – said that “la sayona” – as he usually refers to Machado in a disparaging manner – “also left” the country and “flee” to “a very good tavern there.” in a place in Spain.

Although the head of state did not mention the name of the opponent, the Minister of Communication, Freddy Ñáñez, collected these statements and assured on Telegram that, according to the president, “María Corina Machado fled the country towards Spain”.

Concretely, Maduro said: “I have a secret from you, but I don’t know, do you know how to keep a secret? (…) Who likes gossip? It turns out that the old man (referring to González Urrutia) left some time ago, (…) and the sayona left too, she ran away, she ran away, she went all the way, a very good tavern somewhere in Spain, (…) it has arrived, please. . this to anyone.

“Sayona” is a character who, according to Venezuelan oral literature, appears in the form of a ghost and punishes unfaithful men.

Last Monday, the president, without giving names or direct references, He said “she” had left the countrydespite the ban on leaving the national territory since June 2014.

“Don’t tell anyone, he left the country, my sources tell me he fled (…) they are cowards, they are good at sending messages of hatred and intolerance, but he left , the Gucci suitcases arrived and he left.” “, he then argued, once again, without giving a name.

However, shortly after Maduro’s statement, Machado spoke on the show The interview from EVTV, where he assured that it continues in the country. “Venezuelans know that I am here in Venezuela. “People know it and Nicolás Maduro knows it too. What’s happening is they desperately want to know where I am and I’m not going to give them that pleasure.”

“We are fighting and are determined to move forward until the end. The one who is not there is Maduro, who is in a parallel universe. He knows that the people have defeated him and that there is no going back,” he insisted.

González Urrutia, leader of the main opposition coalition – the Unitary Democratic Platform (PUD) – arrived in Madrid on September 8, after requesting asylum due to the political and judicial “persecution” he said he had suffered. suffered in his country after the elections.

After the departure of the opponent, Machado, who claims to be “in hiding”, fearing for his “life” and his “freedom”, reaffirmed that he would continue to fight from Venezuela, while González Urrutia would do so “from ‘outside”.

Likewise, on September 30, the former deputy, in her speech of gratitude by videoconference after winning the Václav Havel Human Rights Prize, reiterated that she “will continue to fight alongside the Venezuelan people.” At the beginning of October, González Urrutia redoubled the pressure on Maduro by announcing that he would return to Venezuela on January 10 for the inauguration after proclaiming himself “president-elect”.