Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado waves a flag in front of her followers this Wednesday, at a demonstration in Caracas, Venezuela, on Aug 28, 2024. EFE FILE/ Ronald Peña
Caracas, Oct 16 (EFE).- Venezuela opposition leader Maria Corina Machado said on Wednesday in an interview with EVTV that she is still in Venezuela, countering President Nicolas Maduro and his government, which said she had fled to Spain.
A file photo taken on July 13, 2024 of presidential candidate Edmundo González during a campaign event in the city of Valencia, Carabobo state, Venezuela. EFE FILE/ Ronald Peña ARCHIVE
Opposition alliance leader Edmundo González Urrutia, who the opposition insists is the true winner of the July 28 presidential election, went into exile in Spain last month, while Machado had vowed to fight from inside the country.
“Venezuelans know that I am here in Venezuela, the people know it and Nicolas Maduro knows it too. What happens is that they are desperate to know where I am, and I am not going to give them that pleasure,” said Machado.
She insisted that she and the citizens were “here fighting and determined to advance until the end.”
On the other hand, the head of state, Machado said, is in a “parallel universe surrounded by bodyguards” because “he knows that the people defeated him” in the election.
Earlier, Maduro said on TV: “I have a secret for you, but I don’t know, do you know how to keep a secret? (…) Who likes gossip? (…) It turns out that the old man (González Urrutia) left a month ago, (…) and the “sayona” (Machado) also left, fled, fled, (…) she went all the way to a very good tavern somewhere in Spain, (…) she got there. Please, don’t tell this to anyone.”
The “sayona” is a character who, according to Venezuelan oral literature, appears in the form of a specter and punishes unfaithful men.
Although Maduro did not explicitly name the opposition leader, Communication Minister Freddy Ñáñez said on Telegram that, according to the president, “María Corina Machado fled the country to Spain.”
On Monday, the president, without giving names or direct references, said that “she” had left the country, despite the fact that she has been banned from leaving national territory since June 2014.
“Don’t tell anyone, she left the country, my sources tell me that she fled (…) they are cowards, they are good at launching messages of hate and intolerance, but she left, the Gucci suitcases arrived and she left,” he said then, once again, without giving names.
González Urrutia, leader of the main opposition alliance Democratic Unitary Platform, arrived in Madrid on Sep. 8, after requesting asylum due to the political and judicial “persecution” that he claimed to have suffered in his country after the election.
After his departure, Machado, who claims to be “in hiding” fearing for her “life” and “freedom,” reiterated that she will continue fighting from Venezuela, while González Urrutia will do so “from outside.”
Likewise, on Sep. 30, in her acceptance speech via video conference after having won the Václav Havel Human Rights Prize, the former deputy reiterated that she will “continue to fight alongside the Venezuelan people.” EFE
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