The legal team of the Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado denounced this Tuesday that the Supreme Court denied them access to the file of the appeal she filed against the political disqualification that prevents her from being a presidential candidate.
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“The Political-Administrative Chamber places María Corina Machado in a dangerous situation of defenselessness,” said Perkins Rocha, lawyer for the Vente Venezuela organization, Machado's party.
“For the second time, the Political-Administrative Chamber did not give us access to the file to examine it,” the lawyer insisted.
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María Corina Machado, who swept last October's primaries with more than 2 million votes (90%), challenged an administrative sanction that prevents her from running for public office for 15 years, as part of a mechanism designed by the government under pressure from the United States, that demands conditions for the 2024 presidential elections in exchange for lifting sanctions.
1/7 Today we attended the TSJ to review in SPA the exp. d the Dda d Claim by way of Fact and Precautionary Amparo that María Corina Machado (MCM) filed against the obstacles that prevent her from exercising her Political Rights and participating as a candidate in the Presidential elections.
—Perkins Rocha (@PerkinsRocha) January 9, 2024
The appeal was filed on December 15, the last day to appeal. The Supreme Court of Justice (TSJ) does not have, however, a deadline to respond.
“The TSJ endangers compliance with the constitutional guarantees of due process and compliance with the Barbados agreement,” the lawyer continued, referring to the commitments signed. in October by the opposition and the government at a negotiation table mediated by Norway.
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The agreement includes presidential elections in the second half of 2024 with observation by the European Union and other international actors, but did not include the issue of disqualifications, on which the United States, a key actor in this process, is directly putting pressure.
2/7 For the 2nd time, the SPA did not give us access to the exp to examine it and not only know the procedure carried out, but in particular, know the first source of the supposed compliance with the SPA requirement made by the CGR, herein stated the additional background of the case…
—Perkins Rocha (@PerkinsRocha) January 9, 2024
After Barbados, Washington eased an oil embargo imposed on the Caribbean country in 2019 for six months, under the condition that it create a way to fight the disqualifications, which Machado and the entire opposition call illegal. After the appeal was filed, the TSJ asked the Comptroller's Office for arguments to impose the disqualification.
Rocha indicated that he has not been able to corroborate compliance with that requirement. Machado was first sanctioned in 2015 for 12 months after representing Panama at a meeting of the Organization of American States (OAS) to denounce the crisis in Venezuela.
But at the height of his primary campaign, the Comptroller's Office reported that it had extended the ban to 15 years for supporting the sanctions imposed by the United States on Venezuela.
AFP
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