CARACAS.- A matrix of erroneous opinion, initiated by Diosdado Cabello, number two of the ruling party in Venezuela, has given rise to the rumor that unfortunately some media outlets have echoed, referring to an alleged replacement of Maria Corina Machado as a presidential candidate for the opposition, for the 2024 elections.
According to rumor, the opposition leader, who swept the primaries on October 22 with more than 2.5 million voteswould have chosen his campaign manager, Magalli Meda, to take on the presidential race in the face of the political disqualification recently ratified by the Supreme Court of Justice (TSJ), which acts as the judicial arm of the Nicolás Maduro regime.
However, María Corina Machado, who according to various opinion studies, has a voting intention of around 80%has rejected the possibility of appointing a candidate to replace her in the presidential elections scheduled for this year.
The opposition has defended her right to participate in this electoral process in which the fate of the South American country is at stake, mired in a humanitarian and institutional crisis after suffering 25 years of Chavismo, and remains firm in her slogan of moving forward. “until the end”.
Where does the “rumor” come from?
Diosdado Cabello, who since the call for primaries has repeatedly shown his resistance to Machado’s participation in the presidential elections, was the first to start this “rumor.”
On January 10, in his program “Con el Mazo Dando”, Cabello stated that the US ambassador to Venezuela, Francisco Palmieriasked him to consider a substitute because they had not obtained the authorization of María Corina Machado.
“She confessed to me that she does not trust any of the PUD (Democratic Unitary Platform), that they are all traitors, that she does not even trust the alliance with Leopoldo López and that His best card is Magalli Meda, his campaign manager and his most trusted person.”Cabello said at the time on his show.
This Wednesday, also in the space he has on the State channel, Cabello reiterated the supposed substitution of MArìa Corina for Meda, alleging that it is due to a strategy to call for abstention. This, with the purpose of ignoring the electoral process that Chavismo is preparing, in a scenario that could be similar to that experienced in 2018, when Maduro proclaimed himself re-elected in elections that were questioned by more than 60 countries.
This week, various analysts and pollsters associated with the Chavista regime have echoed this “rumor,” creating an opinion matrix that has been disseminated by the media. One of them was Oscar Schemelpresident of the firm Hinterlaces, who through his X account, raised this scenario and assured that the proposal had the support of the White House.
Recognition conditional on Machado’s qualification
The Venezuelan opposition has closed ranks around the candidacy of María Corina Machadowho enjoys the legitimacy obtained in the primary process and the popular support that is manifested in the streets during his tours and political rallies throughout Venezuelan territory.
This Thursday, in addition, the US government and the European Parliament (EP) They conditioned the recognition of the presidential elections on the qualification of the opposition leader, while advocating compliance with the Barbados Agreement, signed in October 2023, so that the process is “free and transparent.”
Although according to statements by Juan González, senior director of the National Security Council, “the priority for the US is that the process be carried out without setbacks, it also reiterates the recognition that the candidate elected by the Venezuelan opposition is Marìa Corina Machado.
“We care about the process, not the candidate,” said the senior director of the National Security Council, Juan González, in a brief statement published on the X account of the US Embassy in Venezuela.
“Our position has been clear: for us, the opposition must be able to select its candidates. “We have insisted that all candidates should be eligible to compete for office,” González added, finishing by saying that “Clearly, the opposition candidate is María Corina Machado”.
For its part, the European Parliament issued a resolution in which it supported the negotiations in Barbados and established a position regarding the candidacy of Machado, whose participation it considers essential for fair elections to be held.
The resolution “underlines that the elections or the electoral results will not be recognized” if certain conditions are not respected, such as the participation of Marìa Corina Machado.
In the text, the European Parliament “strongly condemns the attempts to disqualify the presidential candidate of the democratic opposition to the regime, María Corina Machado.” And he also maintains that the European Union “should not consider sending any electoral observation mission to Venezuela” until “María Corina Machado is allowed to participate in the elections.”
