CARACAS.- Venezuelans are voting Sunday in a tense presidential election to decide between the continuation of Chavez’s 25-year-old government or the change promised by a united and hopeful opposition.
“Good morning, my dear Venezuelans! The day has come. It’s 5 am and we have work to do! At this time, I ask that our national anthem be heard throughout the world, from your heart. And I want to hear you; show it to me here in the responses! Let’s go out and vote as a family with strength, joy and conviction, because we will achieve it!” Machado wrote in X.
Dictator Nicolás Maduro, 61, president since 2013, is seeking a third six-year term as the country struggles, while his main rival is the until-recently unknown diplomat Edmundo González Urrutia, 74, who represents the charismatic and popular opposition leader María Corina Machado, who is barred from running due to a political disqualification.