Imbroglio around the presidential election in Venezuela. The main opponent Maria Corina Machado, candidate for the 2024 presidential election against head of state Nicolás Maduro, challenged her ineligibility before the Supreme Court (TSJ), she announced on Friday, the deadline for filing her appeal. “No one will keep us from the electoral path. Now the ball is in Maduro’s court and Maduro will have to decide whether or not he respects the agreements he has made with members of the international community,” Maria Corina Machado told the press upon leaving the TSJ.
“They (the leaders, editor’s note) are looking for excuses not to have to confront me. I am invested in the Venezuelan people. There are no excuses,” added Maria Corina Machado, hands down winner of the opposition primaries.
“I would have preferred to do it myself”
Maria Corina Machado, who accuses the justice system of being at the orders of those in power, had repeatedly said that she would not appeal her ineligibility because, according to her, she had never been officially informed of it. And this despite an agreement at the end of November between the opposition and the government during negotiations in which Norway is participating. This dispute gave rise to a small imbroglio, the American embassy having preceded Maria Corina Machado to announce the appeal, while many thought that she would not appeal.
Asked about this announcement, Maria Corina Machado said during an evening press conference: “I would have preferred to do it myself.” “We applaud Maria Corina Machado and the other candidates for their courage and their willingness to appeal their disqualification,” the US embassy in Venezuela, which operates in Bogota, posted on the social network The two countries have not had diplomatic relations since 2019, in the wake of the non-recognition of President Maduro’s re-election a year earlier.
Reduced sanctions
The opposition and government delegates during the negotiations announced that they had reached an agreement on November 30 allowing opposition candidates for the 2024 presidential election to challenge their ineligibility before the Supreme Court. Maria Corina Machado, a former congresswoman, was sanctioned with 15 years of ineligibility due to alleged corruption and for treason because she supported US sanctions against Venezuela.
An agreement signed in Barbados between the opposition and the government, setting in particular the date of the presidential election (second half of 2024) and authorizing the presence of international observers during the vote, resulted in a six-month reduction in American sanctions. However, Washington has since stressed that the cancellation of ineligibilities was one of the conditions for the definitive lifting of sanctions. “It is now up to Nicolás Maduro’s representatives to demonstrate their commitment to competitive and inclusive elections,” insisted the American embassy on Friday.
The government has often used ineligibilities against opponents, who consider them unconstitutional. In Venezuela, it is the Comptroller General – a sort of Court of Auditors – who decides on ineligibility but the Constitution stipulates that only a “final and definitive” judicial decision can prohibit a candidate from running for president.