‘You justify Maduro’s abuses’

anti chavista leader Maria Corina Machado Said this Wednesday that the President of Brazil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva“Validating the misdeeds” of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro against the candidacy of a rival for the July presidential elections, which is so far unacceptable due to political ineptitude.

The former deputy said, “You are validating the abuses of a dictator who violates the Constitution… The only truth is that Maduro is afraid to face me because he knows that the Venezuelan people are in the streets with me today ” X, in response to a statement by the Left leader.

The only truth is that Maduro is afraid to face me because he knows that the Venezuelan people are with me in the streets today.

In a clear indication of Machado’s status, who is barred from holding public office until 2036, Lula said that when he was disqualified in 2018, instead of “crying”, he named another candidate for that year’s elections.,

“I’m crying? Are you saying that because I’m a woman? You don’t know me. I’m fighting to assert the rights of the millions of Venezuelans who voted for me in the primaries and the millions of To assert the authority of those who have the right to do so. In those free presidential elections I will defeat Maduro,” the Chavista opponent responded.

Lula also sent a message to the Venezuelan opposition, He said he would not imitate his opponents in Brazil and was not in the habit of “denying them the electoral process, nor the purity of the process”, or rejecting electoral officials.,

In the primary held last October, Machado received 92.35% of the vote, but Venezuela’s Supreme Court confirmed in January that the liberal was disqualified from competing in the elections, a decision that has been questioned by the opposition and international organizations.

This Tuesday, Venezuela’s electoral body announced that presidential elections will be held on July 28, and candidates must register between March 21 and 25, giving the opposition 20 days to decide whether they will call the election. How will we face it?

Lula da Silva, for his part, expressed this Wednesday his wish that the next elections in Venezuela be “as democratic as possible.”And celebrated that there is already a date for these elections.

It is assumed that President Nicolas Maduro will seek a third six-year term, while Machado is disqualified from running.

“I hope that the elections will be as democratic as possible,” Lula said during a news conference with his Spanish counterpart Pedro Sanchez after a meeting at the Planalto presidential palace in Brasilia.

The Left leader said he was “happy” that the date for voting has been fixed.

Lula recalled his meeting with Maduro in St. Vincent and the Grenadines on Friday on the sidelines of the SALAC summit,

He said, “President Maduro told me (…) that he will call all the observers in the world who want to see the electoral process in Venezuela.”

“Venezuela knows that it needs massively democratic elections to regain that place (…) on world stages and to be able to end the US blockade,” Lula said.

EFE and AFP