14ymedio/EFE, Havana/Caracas, August 3, 2024 — Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado left her hiding place this Saturday, where she had been for security reasons after President Nicolás Maduro threatened the leaders of the opposition with prison.
Machado reappeared standing on a truck that traveled the streets of a neighborhood in the capital, until she reached the demonstration called by the opposition to repudiate the electoral fraud and violence on the part of Maduro, who insists on declaring himself the winner in the July 28 elections.
In her first statements, Machado reiterated the triumph of the opposition and maintained that it had never “been as strong as today,” nor “has the regime ever been so weak,” while facing a crowd gathered on Avenida Principal de Las Mercedes. “We knew that, just as it took us a long time to achieve the electoral victory, we are now entering a new stage that we live day by day,” she added.
She said she was very grateful to all the presidents of Latin America “who have recognized the civic and massive character of the vote on July 28.” In that sense, she stressed that now “these countries and these governments have a great responsibility to maintain the civic and peaceful character of the mobilization.” And she asked them to “make the regime understand that the time for the democratic transition has come, that we are willing to negotiate and give guarantees so that it will be in an orderly, sustainable and peaceful way.”
Después de 6 días de brutal represión, creyeron que nos iban a callar, a parar o atemorizar… miren la respuesta.
Hoy, la presencia de que cada ciudadano en las calles de Venezuela demuestra la magnitud de la fuerza cívica que tenemos y la determinación de llegar hasta el… pic.twitter.com/O8u4EDcsSR
— María Corina Machado (@MariaCorinaYA) August 3, 2024
Machado arrived at the demonstration that took place in the east of Caracas, along with the anti-chavistas Delsa Solórzano, Juan Pablo Guanipa, María Beatriz Martínez, Biagio Pilieri and Williams Dávila. They are all members of parties that make up the largest anti-chavista coalition, the Democratic Unitary Platform (PUD). However, so far the presence of the coalition candidate, Edmundo González Urrutia, who obtained 70% of the votes according to the ballots compiled by the opposition, has not been confirmed.
“We knew that, just as it took us a long time to achieve the electoral victory, we are now entering a new stage that we live day by day,” said Machado
Thousands of participants shouting “Freedom!”greeted the opposition leaders, led by Machado, after they said that they fear for their lives. In parallel, a caravan of motorized vehicles in support of Maduro rolled from Petare to the center of Caracas.
The protests began in Caracas normally and without notable incidents, despite the large influx of people, both on foot and by motorcycle. The protests have been replicated in the main cities of the country, where, as in the Venezuelan capital, thousands of demonstrators met peacefully and sang the country’s national anthem. Demonstrations are also reported in support of the opposition in other cities around the world such as Bogotá, Madrid and Washington.
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