Nicholas Maduro

The opposition leader of Venezuela Maria Corina Machado is convinced that Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia He will be sworn in as the new head of state on January 10, 2025, when the new government period begins, despite the official proclamation of Nicolas Maduro as the winner of the July 28 elections, a victory questioned inside and outside the country.

In an interview with EFE, the former liberal deputy reiterated that the opposition’s standard-bearer Democratic Unitary Platform (PUD) won the elections “in a landslide”, the official result of which has been rejected by numerous countries, while the Carter Centerwho participated as an observer in the contest, said that the electoral process “cannot be considered democratic.”

«Edmundo González will be the new head of state and the new commander in chief of the Armed Forces and that depends on what we all do, all Venezuelans inside and outside the country (…) I trust the people of Venezuela and that is why I know that on January 10 we will have a new president»held.

While she remains under protection due to threats against her, the anti-Chavez activist complains that the National Electoral Council (CNE) has not yet published the disaggregated results of the election – contrary to its own schedule – despite numerous requests for transparency from the international community.

Fraud allegations

Considering the electoral records published by the PUD on a website to be true, Machado claims that “the entire world knows” that Maduro, in power since 2013, lost the elections and is trying to carry out “the biggest fraud in history” by insisting on his victory, with the help of the institutions and the military leadership.

Maduro “has zero legitimacy today, no legitimacy at all, and therefore this is a time when the international community must set a very clear red line linked to respect for popular sovereignty,” he continued.

He also hopes that foreign governments will “firmly and unequivocally make Maduro understand that what he is doing is unacceptable, using repressive forces against innocent citizens,” referring to the toll left by the post-electoral crisis, with more than 2,400 people arrested and 24 dead – according to several NGOs – some of them in citizen protests.

The former deputy also foresees that, in the coming days, critical voices against Chavismo will continue to grow because, she said, they are trying to apply “all the necessary pressure so that Maduro understands that his best option is to accept the terms of a negotiation,” something that the president has already publicly rejected, as he insists on having won the elections.

The role of the military

Regarding the role that the military should play in this eventual transition, he believes that their most important task is, likewise, to make Maduro understand “that they are not going to repress the people” and that “they are going to fulfill the constitutional mandate of enforcing popular sovereignty.”

“The one who is using military force to prevent the transition is precisely Nicolás Maduro, (it is he) who has entrenched himself – surrounded by members of the high military command – to ignore the will expressed by the people”he reiterated regarding the Armed Forces, whose leadership has expressed its unrestricted support for the Chavista leader.

He explained that, although the specific points of a transition “are the subject of said negotiation,” it is important to highlight “the willingness” of the opposition “to advance along that route,” both with Maduro and with high-ranking military or civilian officials.

“It is the best option Maduro has today and it may be the only one, because trying to stay in power by force, supported exclusively by the use of violence, is unsustainable in today’s Venezuela.”said.

Security of the opposition

While maintaining “permanent contact” with González Urrutia, also under protection, Machado indicates that both of them “have to continue increasing the pressure,” a task they hope to develop with the support of Venezuelans and the international community so that “this civic and peaceful protest remains alive.”

Asked about the decision to keep her whereabouts hidden, despite the fact that the Prosecutor’s Office assured that there is no arrest warrant against her, she recalled that Maduro himself called her a terrorist and asked that she be sent to prison, while “hundreds of other leaders are hiding” also due to these “threats,” just when the president has called for extreme police and military control.

“We are all working for the same purpose (…) we are going to win, we will not leave the streets, we will continue to take this message to the entire world (…) Edmundo González is the president-elect, what is required is to enforce the sovereign will of the people,” he concluded. EFE (I)