It had been many years since a woman had shaken Venezuelan politics, it happened in 1998 when The former beauty queen, Irene Sáenz, was the favorite for the presidential electionsbut, due to errors and disunity of the parties, Hugo Chávez ended up winning.
(Also read: Who is the candidate who proposes an 'amnesty' if he wins the elections in Venezuela?)
Now, after more than 20 years opposing Chavismo, María Corina Machado is convinced of something: “Edmundo is going to be president and I am also going to be president,” is what the opponent said this Thursday.
Given her political disqualification, Machado, founder of the Vente Venezuela movement, knows that her leadership is key if she wants the unitary candidate, Edmundo González Urrutia, to win the presidential elections on July 28, which alone would be an uphill climb for the Venezuelan diplomat. 74 years old, who became a member of the Democratic Unity Roundtable (MUD), an alliance that brings together the majority of opposition forces.
What's the plan?
“The transition will be led by María Corina Machado,” González Urrutia said in an interview with a Venezuelan media. He also insisted that “the leader of this unitary process is María Corina and we are all behind her.”
(Also read: Edmundo González: the winks from the United States and Brazil to the anti-Chavista candidate in Venezuela)
But this plan is not so easy to execute. Before González Urrutia, Machado tried to endorse his leadership to Corina Yoris, an 80-year-old professor and philosopher who could not register her name as a candidate because the National Electoral Council – with a Chavista majority – did not enable the channels to allow registration. and after an extension, the opponents managed to formalize González Urrutia.
The transition will be led by María Corina Machado.
Although the attacks are mostly against the opposition, given the adverse electoral panorama, Chavismo's number two, Diosdado Cabello, has already begun to unleash his machinery of accusations and insults.
(Also read: María Corina Machado responds to President Petro's proposal to hold a plebiscite in Venezuela)
“He is the candidate of imperialism,” said Cabello, referring to the opponent, who has called for maintaining calm and peace to reach the “transition.”
Who is on the street?
“Once again we surprised him and managed to have a candidate registered for this July 28, who is nothing less and nothing more than Edmundo González. Edmundo González is the candidate of all Venezuelans, for whom we are going to vote this July 28. Here it is. Everyone is clear, right? “It is very important that we have this clear,” said Machado this Thursday from the Portuguesa state, in the plains of the country.
What is Maduro doing?
At the same time that Machado was in Portuguesa, Maduro was in the town of Mamera, in Caracas. There he was “surprisingly” reunited with former neighbors and community leaders, to whom he made promises of more resources.
ANA MARÍA RODRÍGUEZ BRAZÓN- EL TIEMPO CORRESPONDENT- CARACAS
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