MADRID. – Yes in Venezuela there is no elections “acceptable†presidential elections and the registration of the candidacy triumphant opposition in primaries, Nicolás Maduro will repeat a government without legitimacy of origin and will not obtain national and international recognition as desired, meanwhile, the growing economic crisis will deepen, stated the opposition leader, Antonio Ledezma.
For this reason, the former mayor of Caracas considers that the reactions shown by the presidents of Brazil, France, Colombia, together with that of the former president of Uruguay José Mujica, regarding the free elections established by the Barbados Agreement, can cause †“Maduro reconsiders” and allows the registration of Corina Yoris, candidate representing the disqualified presidential candidate chosen by primaries, María Corina Machado, and believes that this must be insisted upon.
Ledezma, who coordinates the international policy team of the disqualified presidential candidate María Corina Machado, analyzed the complex political situation in Venezuela, after the National Electoral Council related to the regime entered the registration of the candidacies of Machado and Yoris, at the end of the period for making applications. An alleged failure in the system prevented Yoris from running, although hours later the same political platform was able to do so with another candidate.
Opposition candidacy
This April 1, the CNE accepted the first opposition candidacy – that of Edmundo González, considered “cover” -, among 11 others who are perceived as “comfortable” for the regime, but for Ledezma the proliferation of options It is “a scene of entertainment”, while the more political than legal artifices that the regime uses to narrow Yoris' path towards clean elections every day, are “a pot of smoke” in a country where the rules of the game are modified to measure.
In a characterization of the political panorama ahead of the elections, Ledezma defines that “the authentic opposition is united in the legitimate leadership represented by María Corina Machado or the person who is a representative, until the obstacles that the regime, following the Castro dogout. The rest is a scene of entertainment: a group of people who run without having participated in the primary. But it is enough to remember the result of these, on October 22, 2023, in which millions of Venezuelans gave Machado a legitimate certificate as a candidate and leader of the opposition.
“We would cite as good the Unitary Platform, which was the one that promoted the primaries together with Machado,†said the exiled political leader and added, “we must start from the absolutely true and unquestionable premise that it is the opposition that took a path for the primary election to settle differences and establish a single strategic line. And that is what María Corina Machado persists in taking, which is the electoral route.
Ledezma: fearful government
Despite the obstacles imposed on the opposition that Machado represents, by the National Electoral Council (CNE), Ledezma specifies, “we cannot speak of a strong government but of a fearful government, which feels defeated in advance in an acceptable competition.” with María Corina Machado.
“And I say acceptable because we are on land and in Venezuela there is a regime that controls public institutions, and as an example is everything that happens in the CNE.â€
Regarding the arguments of Diosdado Cabello (second figure of the Venezuelan regime), who issued an electoral regulation to cite norms, Ledezma defined the result of this act as “smoke in a country where the rules of the game†.
“Venezuela's problem is not judicial or legal but political, he defined. Because if the hoax of the disqualification against Machado had not been dismantled, and there is not even a traffic fine against Mrs. Yoris,†he denounced.
Ledezma considers that the statements of the presidents of Brazil, France, Colombia and the pressure of Pepe Mujica (former president of Uruguay), may cause Maduro to reconsider, and “just as the regulations are modified at will, they may allow or María Corina Machado or Corina Yoris registers. That is the fight we have to continue fighting,†he urged.
“If there is no acceptable election, Maduro will never have what he wants, which is the recognition of Venezuelans and the international community and he will repeat what happened in 2018, a process to his knowledge and understanding that It will never have legitimacy of origin,†the political leader warned.
Regarding the position that the regime could assume in the face of being unknown after an election that is not legitimized, Ledezma defined:
“Venezuela is in an abyss where, after being refloated, it could become even more sunken, and that is where Maduro has the say. He knows that if this increasingly growing state of boiling persists in Venezuela, the economic situation will worsen. We are not going to solve inflation nor will it be possible to contain the public services crisis; Every day the cost of the food basket is going to rise and salaries are giving in to the cost of living; so Maduro has to decide. And he's going to end up blowing up the crisis in his own face. Here what conspires against him is the economic reality, they have difficulties.”
“Acceptable” choices
The former mayor of Caracas recalled that Maduro has a missing person (Tarek El Aissami) who he himself held responsible for having stolen more than 23 billion dollars, “that does not happen anywhere in the world, but in Venezuela.
“This regime no longer has the monolithic leadership of Hugo Chávez, but rather a leadership with five or six people, in which each one tries to assert the price of his fiefdom and that also conspires against Nicolás “Mature,” he noted.
Regarding the possibility that international pressure could have an effect on Maduro's decisions and given the imminent deadline for the US to reestablish sanctions on PDVSA, Ledezma recalled that the regime is tied to an agreement signed by his representative. on October 18 in Babados.
“It is the target we have to aim at, he recalled. Secondly, Maduro is aware that he has a financial tragedy that they have not been able to reverse even with the relief of sanctions, because (in the country) corruption continues to operate.
“What we ask for are acceptable elections, Ledezma pointed out. This is what María Corina Machado asks for, making it clear that acceptable elections are not the same as abstention. Abstaining is far from Machado's blog, and that is why she continues talking about free elections and insisting on the electoral route. The one who has turned his back on the electoral solution is Nicolás Maduro.
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