María Corina Machado: Disqualification and Opposition Primaries in Venezuela

2023-07-01 02:09:29

The Comptroller General of Venezuela confirmed this Friday that the leader María Corina Machado, registered to participate in the opposition primaries that will take place on October 22, is disqualified from competing for a popular election position for a total of 15 years.

An announcement that makes her way difficult if she is chosen to compete against Nicolás Maduro in the 2024 presidential elections.

The ratification of the sanction against Machado responded to a request made by deputy José Brito, close to Chavismo, to find out the political status of the opposition, who currently leads the polls in intention to vote for the primaries.

In the response to Brito, the Comptroller indicated that Machado is disqualified from holding elected positions, after a patrimonial investigation that, according to the fiscal entity, determined that Machado committed actions that violate “public ethics, administrative morality, the Rule of Law, Peace and Sovereignty” of Venezuela.

The agency indicated that errors were determined, as well as omissions in the affidavits of assets, evaluated in the framework of the equity audit followed by Machado.

(Also read: “If I win the Primaries in Venezuela, I call Gustavo Petro”: María Corina Machado)

Machado currently leads the polls in voting intentions for the primaries.

The Comptroller’s Office also pointed out that Machado has been a participant in the “corruption plot orchestrated” by former opposition deputy Juan Guaidó (formerly recognized as interim president of the Caribbean nation), which led to the “criminal blockade” of Venezuela, as well as the ” brazen dispossession” of the nation’s companies and wealth abroad, with the “complicity of corrupt governments.”

The entity pointed out that “the blockade requested by María Corina Machado, in collusion with the usurper Juan Guaidó, among others, has generated the kidnapping of 4,000 million dollars retained in the international banking system.”

Machado has been a participant in the corruption plot orchestrated by the former opposition deputy Juan Guaidó

In addition, he said that the leader against Chavismo requested the application of sanctions and “economic blockade” against the Caribbean nation that generated “damage to the health of the people.”

The Comptroller General, however, did not specify from when this political disqualification began, since in 2015 the institution applied this measure for one year, arguing that Machado did not include “concepts” of a labor nature in his affidavit of heritage.

(It may interest you: Should Venezuela prove to the ICC that it has not committed crimes against humanity?)

Machado was accused of supporting Guaidó and “his corruption plot.”

As soon as the sanction was known, Machado described the measure as useless in comments made at an act in Barinas. “This only shows one thing: they know they are defeated,” he said. And he added: “I would say to the regime: despair is a bad adviser, and it seems that they are very desperate, because they only make mistakes, after mistakes.”

A USELESS “disqualification” that only shows that the regime knows that it is ALREADY DEFEATED.

Now we will vote with more force, more rebellion and more desire in the Primaries.

Here who ENABLES is the people of Venezuela.

Until the end is UNTIL THE END! pic.twitter.com/wRof639noG

— Maria Corina Machado (@MariaCorinaYA) June 30, 2023

Several Venezuelan opposition politicians in exile also rejected Machado’s disbarment. “This disqualification, like ours and that of other opposition leaders, is illegitimate, unjustified and, above all, unconstitutional,” said Henrique Capriles.

Guaidó affirmed that Maduro is following the path of Nicaragua, by disqualifying politicians. “This is how the dictator intends to continue clinging to power, persecuting and disabling the democratic alternative.” The decision also generated rejection in the Organization of American States (OAS), to which Venezuela ceased to belong in 2019. “The regime resorts to disqualifications and proscriptions to cling to power,” he said.

(Also: Corruption scandal in Venezuela leaves a question mark: where is El Aissami?)

The announcement of the sanction against Machado comes just two weeks after the government began a controversial process to restructure the electoral body, which led the opposition to plan primaries without its support. A fact that was described by the NGO Access to Justice as a plan of the ruling party that seeks to “implode” the National Electoral Council to harm the primaries.

In that sense, the revelation of Machado’s disqualification seems another attempt to discourage opposition voters and undermine the candidates who are gaining strength, since the latest polls show that Machado’s popularity has been increasing and he currently leads to the 14 candidates who want to challenge Maduro in 2024.

According to the latest poll by ORC Consultores, Machado had 46.4 percent of voting intentions in May, compared to 35.4 percent in November.

(Keep reading: These would be the opponents that Chavismo would disqualify from competing against Maduro)

The Venezuelan opposition leader, María Corina Machado.

Photo:

Michael Gutierrez. EFE – Archive EL TIEMPO

And although in practice Machado’s inability does not prevent him from participating in the primaries, what does make it difficult is an eventual registration of his presidential candidacy before the National Electoral Council (CNE) in the event that he wins the October contest. In other words, the opposition leader could not be a presidential candidate by 2024.

What could also be affected by the sanction against him is the dialogue between the opposition and the ruling party, which had begun in Mexico, since one of the points on the talks agenda was precisely to establish conditions so that opponents could participate in the presidential elections of 2024.

(Keep reading: María Corina Machado: the opposition leader calls on Venezuelans in Colombia)

This is just one more example of the government’s systematic practice of attacking leaders who oppose it.

However, analysts and academics consulted by this newspaper on previous occasions had already highlighted that Maduro’s political interests and the lack of trust between Chavismo and the opposition were hot potatoes that could already shake the dialogue, and this decision by the Comptrollership is again a blow on the board.

For the NGOs, it is clear that the government is trying to line up its batteries against the opposition primaries in order to allow Chavismo to remain in power for at least one more period. “This is just one more example of the government’s systematic practice of attacking the leaders who oppose it, in order to ensure their victory in the elections, affirmed the NGO Access to Justice.

According to this same NGO, the Comptroller’s Office, in the hands of Chavismo, has no power to suspend the political rights of citizens. “The exercise of political rights can only be suspended by final judicial sentence in the cases determined by law.”

ANA MARIA RODRIGUEZ BRAZON
WEATHER CORRESPONDENT
CARACAS