The “Chavista” forces, by tossing this hot potato into the hands of the opposition groups, is playing their usual game of dividing the pro-democracy forces.
By Andres Cañizalez (Confidencial)
HAVANA TIMES – The political-electoral panorama in Venezuela, where presidential elections are scheduled for 2024, remains marked by two large questions. The first was revealed on Friday, January 26, with the Venezuelan Supreme Court’s decision to ratify the disqualification of Maria Corina Machado, the leading opposition candidate, and also leave two-time candidate Henrique Capriles out of the game. This decision, which is more political than legal as typical of regimes where one group has concentrated power, lays bare the official strategy: there will be no competitive elections in Venezuela in 2024.
Months before, I wrote in the Venezuelan news-site El Estimulo about the inability of Maduro’s Chavista Party to commit political suicide. Allowing Machado to compete in an election [against current President Nicolas Maduro] would amount to an act of Hari Kari for those who have appropriated power in Venezuela. The Chavistas have one and only one central strategy, which consists in remaining glued to power, no matter what the cost to society and the country.
The last weeks of 2023 and the first of 2024 have witnessed the consolidation of Maria Corina Machado as the principal figure for the democratic opposition in Venezuela. The uncontested backing of the Unified Platform, the huge acceptance of the United States, together with a growing validation for her among Venezuelans have combined with other factors to accelerate Machado growth after her overwhelming triumph in the opposition primaries of October 22, 2023.
Her evolution in terms of public opinion, and
