For a significant segment of the Venezuelan electorate, many of them former Chavista voters, the elections taking place next Sunday create a dilemma. They want change after 11 years of increasingly authoritarian rule by Nicolás Maduro in an economy in permanent crisis and besieged by the US oil embargo.
But that change is not what the radical right of Maria Corina Machado represents. Despite being disqualified, Corina Machado, born in Caracas 57 years ago and who won the opposition primaries at the beginning of the year, considers herself the real shadow candidate behind the “straw man” candidate, Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia.
Very close to the ideology of Vox in Spain and Donald Trump’s most extremist allies in Miami, Corina Machado has in the past defended a neoliberal shock program that includes the privatization of the state oil company PDVSA. The ultraconservative leader has moderated her discourse during the campaign. But her links with leaders of the Latin American extreme right such as María Fernanda Cabal and Paloma Valencia in Colombia, Javier Milei in Argentina, and Jair Bolsonaro in Brazil, are well known. She has subscribed to conspiracy theories that demonize center-left leaders such as Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Gustavo Petro, Pedro Sánchez and, during the Trump presidency, even Joe Biden. To delve deeper into this dilemma, The vanguard He held an interview that lasted almost three hours (typical in Venezuela) in a café in the affluent Altamira district.
Can Nicolás Maduro lose the elections?
She can lose because there can be a massive vote. People want to go out and vote. That’s clear. There can be a landslide here. It’s a government that has become very repressive, imprisoning people, putting union leaders who go out to protest for wages in jail. This has consequences. In the end, people ask themselves: how can we live in a country like this? We want freedom. So, there can be a landslide. The problem is the candidate.
Because?
Because they are pinning everything on María Corina Machado. And I don’t see it clearly. People don’t accept it. While it is true that there is a sector that is fantasized, that wants change so much that it doesn’t even want to think that change can’t happen. But the rest don’t. According to the survey conducted by Luis Vicente León, there is 30% that do not feel aligned with either of the two candidates. And 30% want change, but that it be peaceful.
Edmundo González is the official candidate. Could he reach that 30%?
Yes, but Edmundo González is a curious phenomenon. He did not want to be a candidate. In the end he accepted it. But without any intention of assuming the presidency. Many people are voting for Edmundo González because he is María Corina. At the beginning, he said that he was not going to campaign. She is campaigning. In other words, González is a kind of alter ego of María Corina. And I raised in an article that the question in these elections is whether he is an alter ego or a candidate per se. Edmundo Gonzlaes: to be or not to be (to be or not to be). There is a tension and we do not know how it will be resolved.
Do we know for sure that González is more moderate compared to María Corina Machado? Because she is from the Vox faction in Spain, right?
That’s the question. Who is going to put politics there? That’s the big question. He comes from a centre-right background. Traditional Christian Democracy. He has been a civil servant in the chancellery. A career civil servant.
For example, does he support the privatization of PDVSA? Because María Corina Machado has supported it in some statements, right?
No. Gonzalez does not support the privatization of PDVSA. He differed from it. But there is a lot of pressure on him. It is like the movie “Ahí está el detalle” by Mario Moreno (Cantinflas)…
Corina Machado is disqualified. Can she then be president without having been elected?
No way! The legality is very simple. The constitution says that sovereignty resides in the people and is exercised indirectly through its representatives. In that case, if Edmundo González wins by vote, sovereignty is transferred to Edmundo. It is a non-transferable delegation.
But what if González doesn’t want to be president?
That’s what he said. They are trying to replicate what happened with Perón in Argentina.
With Evita?
No! With Hector Campora in 1973. The military did not allow Peron to be a candidate. So Peron appointed Campora. Campora resigned after a month and Peron, as vice president, replaced him.
If he wins, what does Gonzalez have to do?
He has to lead this country in a very delicate and complex situation. It requires a lot of intelligence; a lot of capacity for dialogue. There has to be some sort of agreement on governability.
Because?
Because the other powers will be in the hands of Maduro’s people. Congress has two thirds, the Supreme Court, and everything else.
Corina Machado wants retaliation against Maduro and his collaborators. Is that advisable?
No. The next president will have to govern this country in a very delicate, very complex situation. It requires a lot of intelligence; a lot of capacity for dialogue. There must be a will to reach an agreement on governability. Maduro has a price of 15 million dollars hanging over his head and the entire senior government, including the Supreme Court, accused of drug trafficking. And in the International Criminal Court there is a political process hanging over Maduro’s head. There is a negotiation between the US and the government. A peaceful transition must be sought.
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Source: www.lavanguardia.com
