It is important to remember that the Comptroller General of Venezuela (CGR) disqualified Machado from running for elected office for a period of 15 years, a measure it announced in June last year, because MCM supposedly supported US sanctions against the Maduro regime and for its support of Juan Guaidó. opposition leader who held the presidency of the Venezuelan Parliament and the interim presidency of Venezuela.
The veto of MCM is seen by presidents, former rulers and political leaders of the world as a maneuver by the Venezuelan dictator to avoid facing the opposition candidate, who is widely accepted by the Venezuelan population and the international community.
Quiroga: MCM last hope for democracy
The former president of Bolivia Jorge “Tuto” Quiroga is very critical of the regime’s actions to prevent María Corina Machado from participating in the 2024 presidential elections as the sole opposition candidate. He affirms that Maduro is afraid to measure himself and confront the adversary in democracy and free elections.
“Maduro is desperate to prevent Maria Corina Machado be a presidential candidate,” said Quiroga. “She knows that she is the only one who can defeat him at the polls, that is why she is using all possible tricks to prevent her participation.”
In addition, he said that Maduro is afraid of the opposition leader because “he lacks the testicular element” necessary to confront her. He emphasizes that she is an intelligent and tireless woman who fights for the recovery of democracy and freedom in Venezuela.
He called on the international community, which called for dialogue, and on the guarantors of the Barbados agreement, to work to ensure that the regime reverses this measure. “Gentlemen of the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, members of the European Community. Mr. Petro and Mr. Lula, there can only be elections and full democracy with María Corina Machado,” Quiroga stressed.
The former president of Bolivia deplores the position of the United States government on the MCM case. “The dictatorship acts and does what it wants, it makes instant decisions. “Venezuela has partners, which the US does not understand, this is a dismembered territory, occupied by States and parastatal elements, such as Russia, Iran and Cuba”.
He adds that parastatal elements such as Hamas, Hezbollah, remnants of the ELN or the FARC are in Venezuela. In that sense, Quiroga asked himself: “Does the US really want to allow the democratic charter to be violated, to establish a second Cuba, to have a Caribbean North Korea, with Mr. Putin’s missiles and bases, with Iranians, Hamas and Hezbollah, with drug traffickers, with a cartel of the suns, a two-hour flight from Miami? For God’s sake, gentlemen of the United States, you said expedited disqualification.”
He emphasizes to President Joe Biden that the regime “gets wet with what you do.” Quiroga points out: “You returned the biggest criminal, Álex Saab, to his boss Maduro, to the narco-nephews, you are carrying out deportations of Venezuelans who escaped from the dictatorship and arrived in the land of freedom and you send them back. You have given him oil licenses. “One after another, after another favor, it is too naive.”
Finally, he said that the Maduro regime is “urinating” on the European Community, the United States, the United Kingdom and Canada in broad daylight, that Venezuelan democracy is lost and no action is taken.
“When are they going to understand that Venezuela’s democracy is being lost forever. The only and last hope is María Corina Machado, it is time to act. Venezuela’s democracy is going to be lost and Joe Biden, the lords of the European Union, Canada, the United Kingdom will be accomplices and the architects of this will be Petro, Lula, López Obrador for their complicity with Maduro’s narco-criminal tyranny,” he concluded.
They gave concessions to Maduro without guarantee
For her part, the former president of Costa Rica, Laura Chinchilla, stated that she is not surprised that the Maduro regime uses justice as a tool, this time against María Corina Machado or anyone it suspects may threaten its plans to remain in power. the power.
“What has happened with the derailment of María Corina Machado’s candidacy by the regime does not surprise us, in fact, we had warned it. “The former presidents of IDEA had sent communications to the Biden administration and the representatives of the European Union warning about this situation.”
He stated that he is surprised by this mixture of naivety or putting national security interests before the defense of democracy in Venezuela, because concessions were given to the regime in the framework of the Barbados negotiations without the dictatorship giving strong signs that I was going to respect what was agreed upon in the negotiation.
“It is confirmed once again that the regime’s ultimate objective is to remain in power.”
The former Costa Rican president affirms that US policy regarding the Venezuelan regime is erratic. Events in Ukraine and now in the Middle East put the national security interests of the United States, in energy matters, above the principles of defending democracy.
“The concessions that were given to the regime have no explanation from the point of view that there was nothing much in return, the release of prisoners is important, but in the economic concessions there is no gesture that would put the regime’s word to advance to the test. towards an election process with sufficient conditions for the opposition to participate in the presidential elections.”
He criticized that, without the regime’s guarantees to comply with the agreements, the concessions were given. “Today the dictatorship must be laughing, obviously at the naiveté and the mixture of more specific interests of the United States and also of the European Union and the international community. “It must also be said clearly about some sectors of the opposition in Venezuela.”
The US imposes sanctions on Venezuela
Faced with the actions of the Maduro regime, the United States government reacted and revoked part of the sanctions against Venezuela that it had granted last year, in response to the political disqualification of María Corina Machado.
The US Treasury Department gave a deadline until February 13 for companies that carry out transactions with the Venezuelan state mining company Minerven to liquidate their operations.
Likewise, the North American government announced that it is giving Maduro until April to enable Machado. Otherwise, he will reinstate the sanctions on Venezuelan oil and gas that were lifted months ago.
While the regime, prior to the White House announcement, threatened that Venezuela will respond with “severity” and “reciprocal” measures.
It is important to remember that the Biden administration agreed with the Maduro dictatorship at the end of 2023, the return of flights from the United States to Caracas with Venezuelan citizens who are deported from the country.
The United States and Venezuela reached this consensus, within the framework of the Barbados agreements, to make US sanctions on Venezuela more flexible. As a result, Washington partially lifted sanctions on the Venezuelan oil and gold industry.
The agreement established that the Nicolás Maduro regime would lift sanctions on opposition candidates, which would allow the opposition to participate freely in the 2024 presidential elections.
However, the regime failed to fulfill its commitment to lift the sanctions and the Supreme Court of Justice of Venezuela ratified the disqualification of María Corina Machado from holding public office for 15 years.
In response to this disqualification, the State Department announced that Machado’s disqualification “is incongruent” with the regime’s commitment to holding free and fair presidential elections.
Disqualifications, a tool to neutralize
The political disqualifications that the Comptroller General of the Republic (CGR) imposes on opposition leaders in Venezuela are used as a tool to neutralize political rivals of the ruling party and design an opposition that does not represent any real risk to the Maduro regime.
Within the framework of the negotiations between Chavismo and the opposition, the regime proposed a judicial procedure to review the disqualifications. The proposal was criticized by the opposition, which considered it a maneuver to buy time and prevent US sanctions on Venezuela from being reimposed.
The regime’s proposal contemplated that disqualified opponents would present a contentious administrative appeal before the Political-Administrative Chamber (SPA) of the Supreme Court of Justice (TSJ). The appeal should be accompanied by a request for precautionary protection, which would allow the opponent to participate in the 2024 presidential elections while the case is resolved.
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Source: NTN24, account of the social network
