The process of the so-called technical trial would take place from March 28 to April 1.
The name of María Corina Machado, elected by majority in opposition primary elections last October, in which she obtained more than 3 million votes, is not found on the list of 12. Nor does the name of Corina Yoris appear, whom the leader of Vente Venezuela named as the standard bearer to assume the presidential candidacy.
The CNE, controlled by Chavismo, did not allow both candidates access to the nomination system, although the electoral body later accepted the nomination of the Unitary Platform, in an extension that was denied and then accepted at the last minute.
The US regrets that there are only “comfortable” candidates for Maduro
The United States publicly regretted the decision not to accept Machado’s candidacy and to leave the majority opposition that participated in primaries without representation.
“The acceptance by the CNE of only those opposition candidates with whom Maduro and his representatives feel comfortable goes against the competitive and inclusive elections that the Venezuelan people and the international community will consider legitimate,” he said through a statement from the United States Department of State.
Washington reiterated its request to Maduro and his regime “to guarantee access for international observers, end the imprisonment and harassment of civil society and members of the opposition, and allow all candidates to run” in the spirit of clean elections. and free, agreed in Barbados that, if not fulfilled, “will have consequences,” the US government stated in the text.
In addition, he urged that all political prisoners be released.
The twelve candidates allowed by the CNE
But, who are the twelve “opposition” candidates who perceive themselves as “comfortable” with Nicolás Maduro? None of them registered in the opposition primaries, but they did register in the CNE. In the order of their application, they are:
1. Luis Eduardo Martínez. An agricultural engineer with studies abroad and with a resume on his own website, he was a councilor, regional deputy three times and governor of the Monagas state in two terms, with performances close to Chavismo. Since 2021 he has been a deputy to the National Assembly (2020) and head of the faction of the AD party close to power. He has held management positions in universities.
2. Antonio Ecarri Angola. Lawyer specialized in financial and tax law, 49 years old, he has had a political career since 2015. He was a councilor of the Chacao municipality (Caracas) until 2013, and with the Alianza del Lápiz party, he was a candidate for mayor of the central Libertador municipality in the elections regional and in 2021 he ran again with the Fuerza Vecinal party, arguing that the current opposition politicians “have a high rejection.” He dismissed the unitary opposition’s 2023 primary process and questioned its credibility.
3. Juan Carlos Alvarado. A 43-year-old administrator, he began his political career as a student leader and then as youth secretary, organization and currently general of the Copei party, today intervened by the Supreme Court. He also served as a deputy to the Latin American Parliament and the National Assembly, where he has been a member of several commissions.
4. Daniel Ceballos Morales. Engineer, 40 years old. He was one of the figures of the 2007 student movement, deputy and then mayor of the San Cristóbal municipality, in the state of Táchira, a position from which he was dismissed by the Supreme Court, for supporting the 2014 protests. For this reason, he was arbitrarily detained and imprisoned. in El Helicoide until 2018, where he would have participated in a mutiny. After a long absence, he founded the Arepa party with which he registered his candidacy, supported by the Voluntad Popular party.
5.Benjamin Rausseo. He is a 63-year-old businessman, known more as “Er Conde del Guácharo” in his profession as a comedian and producer, than as a politician. But he has run for the presidency several times. In 2006 he registered for the elections in which Hugo Chávez was re-elected against Manuel Rosales, but he withdrew months before the elections. He also aspired to be governor of Anzoátegui in 2008. In 2023 he announced his participation in the opposition primaries but withdrew and said that he would run in 2024 as an “independent.”
6.Javier Bertucci Carrero. A 54-year-old businessman, his public career is better known as an evangelical pastor of the Maranatha Venezuela Church, with events in sports stadiums, rather than as a politician. His name resonated in 2010 when he was accused and under house arrest for transferring a tanker ship with 5,000 metric tons of diesel from the Venezuelan Puerto Cabello to the port of Barahona, in the Dominican Republic. In this case he received precautionary measures, but then a new trial began in which his condition is unknown. He was also linked in 2016 to the leak of Panama Papers documents, according to journalistic reports. He is a deputy of the National Assembly (2020).
7. Jose Brito Rodriguez. Administrator, 51 years old, with a varied political career. He was a councilor (2005-2008) and then aspired to be mayor for the MUD. He was a member of the MAS, Podemos and Primero Justicia parties from which he was expelled in 2019, as he was one of the opposition deputies who interceded on behalf of Chavista businessmen involved in CLAP irregularities. He approached the regime and appears on the list of those sanctioned by the US Treasury Department. Two controversial events stand out in her record and are considered “personal”: A telephone conversation recorded in 2018 in which he insulted the leader María Corina Machado and her judicial actions and disqualifications against the opposition primaries, where she never enrolled.
8. Claudio Fermín Maldonado. A 74-year-old sociologist and university professor, he is a long-time politician who aspired to public office on several occasions, but achieved few. Under the AD party to which he always belonged, he was the first mayor of Caracas elected by direct vote, in 1989, but he did not achieve re-election. He was a candidate in the 1993 presidential elections that Rafael Caldera won and a pre-candidate in the 2018 elections, but in the latter process he withdrew and decided to be campaign manager for a candidate close to Chavismo. Currently he is the national leader of the Solutions for Venezuela party. Before, in 1999 he joined Chávez’s Constituent Assembly and ran for president in 2000 in a unique process, in which he came third.
9. Luis Ratti. He presents himself as a “preacher, lecturer, motivator and businessman” on his networks, and there is no further information about who he is. He was a member of the left-wing MAS party that supported Hugo Chávez and then a presidential candidate in the 2018 elections, but declined. Until 2016 he was president of the Hugo Chávez National Bolivarian Front, created in 2013 to support Nicolás Maduro and the bases of the PSUV.
10. Enrique Marquez. Electrical engineer and university professor, 60 years old, and has a political career in unitary opposition parties in which he has been an advisor mainly on electoral issues. Since 2000 he has been an elected deputy in the National Assembly until 2021, when he held the vice presidency of the CNE, representing the opposition alliances, until 2023. His resume does not record presidential aspirations, until 2024 when he ran for a new party. , Centered.
11. Manuel Rosales Guerrero. A 71-year-old controversial politician, he ran as a presidential candidate in the 2006 elections that Hugo Chávez won, but was victorious at the regional level. In Zulia he was a deputy to the Legislative Assembly and then twice mayor of Maracaibo. He was also twice governor of that state. He is the leader and co-founder of the Nuevo Tiempo party, which had national reach in 2006 and with which he ran for the 2024 elections.
12. Edmund Gonzalez Urrutia. He is an internationalist and they call him a “cover” candidate for the MUD in the 2024 elections, but his career has been more focused on the diplomatic area. He held positions in the Venezuelan Foreign Ministry, a career ambassador of the Foreign Service until 2004 and also ambassador to Argentina and Algeria. His application was the last one accepted by the CNE in an unusual extension, on March 25.
Source: With information from CNE, Statement from the Department of State, wiquipedia
