Who is María Corina Machado, the opposition leader who is ready to remove Maduro from power in Venezuela

The former deputy Maria Corina Machado was legitimized, with more than 500,000 votes, as the new and undisputed leader of the opposition of the Venezuelaa podium that debuts with a disqualification in tow, which prevents her from contesting the 2024 presidential elections, something that has not made her hesitate for a second in her career in removing Chavismo from power.

With the promise to go “to the end”this 56-year-old industrial engineer convinced the country that her disqualification, dictated by Controller until 2030will not be an impediment to the fight for free, competitive and transparent elections next year, when hopes to remove Nicolás Maduro from the presidential palace.

WATCH: Results of the 2023 Primary Elections in Venezuela LIVE: María Corina Machado rocks to be Maduro’s rival

Although the path proposed to overcome the obstacles is not entirely clear, today received clear support of 93.13% at the pollsin which it multiplied the number of votes received the last time it was measured in an election, in the 2012 primaries, when it received 3.81% of support.

María Corina Machado gestures as she awaits the results of the opposition’s primary elections at her party’s headquarters in Caracas, October 22, 2023. (Photo by Federico Parra/AFP). (FEDERICO PARRA/)

A tireless radical

Radical against the Government, which he calls a dictatorship, Machado has suffered ridicule from Chavismo for yearswhose leaders call her “crazy” and “a traitor to the country”, which is why they expelled her from Parliament in 2014, after having spoken as Panama’s alternate ambassador to the Organization of American States (OAS), where he denounced the government’s repression of protests at the time.

LOOK: María Corina Machado votes in the opposition primaries and says she spoke “early” with foreign governments

The following year, the institutions imposed two measures on her that sought to remove her from the political arena: a ban on leaving the country that has been in force for eight years, without being tried for any crime, and an administrative disqualification that prevented him from holding elected office for a year, although the Controller He announced last July that his veto will last until 2030.

Thus, practically in the last decade of former deputy consisted of an incessant journey through each city in the Venezuelain which it gradually gained followers until it became the electoral phenomenon of today. The confinement to which she was condemned ended up strengthening her.

María Corina Machado votes at a polling station in Caracas during the Venezuelan opposition’s primary elections. (Photo by Federico Parra/AFP). (FEDERICO PARRA/)

Now, the pedigree of undisputed leader of the opposition was quite elusive. As for popularityspent years behind other names like Henrique Capriles, Leopoldo López and Juan Guaidó, the same ones who are hated today by the popular anti-Chavism that sees Ax to one “coherent” woman, for refusing to negotiate with the Government.

This same impetus was what led her in 2012 to interrupt Hugo Chavez (1999-2013) during his nearly nine-hour speech before deputies. Machado rebuked the popular socialist leader, shouting “to expropriate is to steal”. a slogan with which he gained notoriety but no support.

Indefatigable, The politician promoted anti-government protests every year between 2013 and 2019a six-year term in which it seemed that the few supporters he had were diminishing, whom he asked in 2018 to take to the streets to demand the resignation of Matureprecisely when the president was re-elected with the lowest participation in this type of election.

María Corina Machado speaks during a press conference in Caracas on October 13, 2023. (Photo by Federico PARRA / AFP). (FEDERICO PARRA/)

A legitimate liberal

Ten years after failing in his bid for “popular capitalism” for Venezuelathe liberal won the trust of citizens with a massive privatization plan that includes the state oil company PDVSA, the country’s main source of wealth.

In his opinion, it is urgent to reduce the size of the Government and the State’s intervention in private matters to generate an economic big bang that finally takes the South American nation out of the backwardness in which it finds itself, lAfter eight years of financial contraction, although indicators started to improve slightly in 2021.

Today, María Corina Machado is located at the top of the opposition ecosystem, divided into so many fractions that it is impossible to quantify them, Therefore, among your first challenges, you must gather as much support as possible to protect your candidacy, which will only be possible through negotiation with the Executive.

Source: Elcomercio