Thousands of citizens opposed to the regime of Nicolás Maduro In Venezuela, they gathered this Thursday in the capital and in various parts of the country to demand “freedom” just 24 hours before the presidential inauguration, which both Maduro and Edmundo González Urrutia have promised to assume. Enraged by Maria Corina Machadothe protesters marched from the main population centers of the 23 states of the country and through four points of Caracas, where they were finally able to see the opposition leader again after 133 days (since August 28) in hiding. A few minutes later she was “violently” detained.although after a few hours her team confirmed that she had been released.
“We are not afraid,” shouted Machado climbed onto a car to the cheers of those gathered in the Chacao neighborhood, the final point of the protests in the capital. Shortly before disappearing, the opposition leader warned her supporters that “the next few days” will be decisive for the freedom of Venezuela” and thanked them for their mobilization. “What we have done is the most important citizen movement that has ever existed in Venezuela.” She said excitedly and raising the country’s flag. Machado stated that the members of the Government “have been left alone internationally,” to which the protesters responded in unison with the cry of “freedom.”
After the speech, Machado’s precautions were of no use, as she came accompanied by security. A few minutes later, her campaign team warned that she had been arrested. “María Corina was violently intercepted as she left the rally in Chacao. We hope to confirm her situation in minutes. Regime troops shot at the motorcycles that were transporting her,” they wrote online, a circumstance that Human Right Watch later confirmed. In July, the Venezuelan Justice had issued an arrest warrant against Machado accused of terrorism.
The arrest of his partner caught González Urrutia in the Dominican Republic, the last stop on his tour of America, and from where he has assured that he will go to the inauguration this Friday, although it is unknown if this will finally occur. “Don’t play with fire,” he declared from there.. “As president-elect, I demand release of María Corina Machado,” he wrote on his networks, where he accused the security forces of kidnapping his companions. Like him, the Spanish Foreign Ministry also wanted to send a message of condemnation of the situation. “The physical and “The freedom of expression and demonstration of everyone, especially that of opposition political leaders, must be protected and safeguarded,” he said in a statement.
A few hours after her disappearance, her campaign team explained in a message on social networks how she was arrested and assured that She herself will address the country to tell what happened. “Leaving the concentration in Chacao, Caracas, Machado was intercepted and knocked off the motorcycle on which she was traveling. In the event, firearms were detonated. She was forcibly taken away. During the period of her kidnapping she was forced to record several videos and then she was released,” they explained.
Two arrests and tear gas
Machado’s was not the only arrest carried out during the demonstrations. Previously others two people were arrested in Maracaiboa city very close to the border with Colombia, after the Police dispersed the concentration calling for González’s victory with tear gas. At the same time, in Caracas, agents armed with rifles and government supporters on motorcycles They blocked access to two bridges that link the main highway that crosses the city towards the headquarters of the Episcopal Conference in the Montalbán neighborhood, one of the four points where the rally had been called.
Before that, both Machado and González Urrutia had sent messages calling on Venezuelans to remain focused on “all of Venezuela”, with “serenity and firmness”, and to demonstrate for the “fight and conquest” of freedom”and with “the same energy” as on July 28, when they claim that González Urrutia won by a wide margin, despite the fact that the National Electoral Council (CNE) gave Maduro a questioned re-election.
“Thank you very much on behalf of the Venezuelans, we will all see you very soon in Caracas,” said the candidate from Santo Domingo. In a speech before the authorities, the opposition leader He praised “the struggle” of the Venezuelan people. “With great courage, in the face of threats, arrests, forced disappearances, Venezuelans are demonstrating a spirit of freedom,” he said.
Precisely, the opposition candidate denounced this Wednesday the illegal detention of his son-in-law, Rafael Tudaresby the Maduro Police and sent support to her daughter for this “forced disappearance” of her husband. “We have had to learn hard lessons as a peoplebut we have been able to put the regime on the ropes,” he celebrated this Thursday, even without knowing anything about his family member, and recounted the process that the parties opposed to Maduro went through to hold primary elections and meet around a candidacy. of unit with Machado at the helm, later disabled and replaced by him.
Likewise, González thanked the “more than a million people” who collaborated to collect nearly the 85% of the electoral recordswhich have been analyzed by the opposition and with which they justify their victory. He reiterated the opposition’s willingness to agree to a peaceful transition, but that Chavismo “refuses to accept defeat.” “Instead, he has chosen to unleash the worst escalation of repressive violence in history of our country,” he added, while defining the regime as a “threat to the entire hemisphere.”
On the other hand, in Caracas, parallel to the opposition protests, hundreds of chavistas marched in support of Maduro’s swearing-in. Chavismo installed platforms in several avenues to gather its militants and between Tuesday and Wednesday, a camp was set up that gathered 10,500 fishermen, farmers and community members who arrived from all over the country.
Support from Spain
The demonstrations for the recognition of González have not only occurred in Venezuela. Germany, Ecuador, Australia, Netherlands or Italy Spain has also joined the protests, hosting rallies in various cities, the largest in Madrid and Barcelona. Thus, in Madrid’s Puerta del Sol thousands of people have shown solidarity with the Venezuelan people. In a rally supported by the PP and Vox leadership, protesters have demanded “freedom” in Venezuela and ousting Maduro.
“The time has come for the liberation of Venezuela”proclaimed the leader of the PP, Alberto Núñez Feijóo. For the leader of the PP, González “must take office” this Friday “because his compatriots decided so in elections and this has been proven at the polls.” In his opinion, “any other scenario represents a coup d’état and fraud against the will of a people.”
The president of the Community, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, has also pointed out that Venezuelans “have been persecuted” but that “we say to those thugs: we are not afraid of you.” For Ayuso, Maduro is finished and has demanded that the Government of Pedro Sánchez recognize the victory of the Venezuelan opposition in the July 2024 elections. At the end of the protest, when Machado’s arrest became known, the cries of Venezuelans in Spain were immediate: “Damn Maduro, we are not afraid!”
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