María Corina Machado: “Maduro’s Best Option is to Enter into Negotiations”

Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado said on August 7th that President Nicolas Maduro must “understand that his best option” is to “enter into a negotiation” with the majority opposition, which insists on the victory of its candidate, Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia, in the July 28th elections, despite the electoral authority declaring Maduro the winner.

Machado, the main supporter of Gonzalez, said this dialogue process must be based on “respect for the popular sovereignty exercised on July 28.” Although there is “still” no negotiation, there is an “absolute willingness” on the part of the majority opposition, grouped in the Democratic Unitary Platform (PUD).

In a virtual interview with local media, Maria Corina stated that these conversations would offer “guarantees and incentives so that the transition flows in an orderly and stable manner.”

Although the call for negotiation is not new, Machado reiterates it as the PUD denounces “fraud” by the National Electoral Council (CNE), which proclaimed Maduro re-elected president with 51.95% of the votes, while saying Gonzalez obtained 43.18%. This opposition rejects these results, claiming to have 83.5% of the vote tally sheets issued at the polling stations that demonstrate their candidate’s overwhelming victory.

Support from Brazil, Mexico, and Colombia

Machado, a former deputy, does not rule out that, with the support of Brazil, Mexico, and Colombia – who at the beginning of August expressed their willingness to help in the efforts of “dialogue and agreement seeking” – it is possible to “establish clear, firm, and effective negotiation terms,” a process in which “other countries” could also be incorporated as facilitators.

“They (Brazil, Mexico, and Colombia) have a communication channel (with Maduro) that others do not have, and I believe they have maintained a prudent position to effectively maintain this exchange,” added the opposition leader.

At the beginning of the week, Colombian Foreign Minister Luis Gilberto Murillo referred to the mediating task of the presidents of Colombia, Brazil, and Mexico to help overcome the Venezuelan crisis and said he hoped “that this week and next they might, if they decide, communicate the progress they have made.”

On Monday, the ruling United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) assured in its weekly press conference that it will not “surrender under any circumstances.”

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Machado on Military Leadership

Machado asserted that “all Maduro has left” is the “reduced” support of the military leadership, following the July 28 elections, whose official result confirmed his victory, denounced as fraud both domestically and internationally.

“All he has left is a very small number of high-ranking military officers, because even in the rank-and-file of our armed forces, our police forces, many are not with Maduro, because they do not want violence, and they do not want lies,” said Machado during a conversation with Costa Rican President Rodrigo Chaves.

Machado asked Chaves to “help think of” new diplomatic initiatives to increase pressure on the Government, which, in light of the protests against the announced electoral result, ordered stricter police and military controls to counter what they are calling “a cyber coup.”

“We must join and coordinate all these actions of the international community so that the regime knows that no one is going to validate what they have done and that the world knows that we are not turning the page (…) we will not let this stand,” she argued.

Machado denounced that since July 29 “the repression has been brutal” in Venezuela, where more than 2,200 people have been detained and 24 lost their lives in the context of the protests, some of which turned violent.

Furthermore, Machado reiterated that, given the silence of the National Electoral Council (CNE), which has yet to publish the detailed results certifying Maduro’s victory – thus violating legal regulations – if they suddenly present tally sheets validating Maduro’s win, these “will be the evidence of fraud.” She noted that the copies of the polling station tally sheets in the possession of the opposition have full proof authenticity indicators.

This article was published in Spanish in Confidencial and translated by Havana Times. To get the most relevant news from our English coverage delivered straight to your inbox, subscribe to The Dispatch.