“This is not the end, but it is the beginning of the end,” predicted María Corina Machado in her first words to the country at midnight this Sunday. Smiling, with that characteristic gesture of her hands on her chest, escorted by two of her children and with the presence of several rival candidates, the leader of Vente Venezuela called for the formation of a great national alliance to “defeat tyranny.” and to build a Venezuela “with republican and liberal pillars.”

The National Primary Commission (CNP) had just notified, despite the Internet blocks imposed by the revolutionary government, the victory of Machado by acclamation, with 93% of the votes in the primaries to elect the candidate to contest the presidential elections of the next year to Nicolás Maduro. The never seen before, because in addition the total number of voters, more than 2,300,000, represents another great victory in the fight against the Bolivarian dictatorship, which is approaching the parliamentary majority of 2015.

In a country thirsty for change (85% want it), Machado would also defeat Maduro by a landslide, since he leads him by more than 40%, according to several surveys. The disqualification that occurred against the opposition leader at the end of June, ordered by Nicolás Maduro when he saw how popular fervor was growing during his tour of the country, will mark the political game in Venezuela for the coming months.

Hurricane Machado also swept away the traditional opposition parties. “Evidently the people voted against our way of doing politics,” acknowledged this Sunday Henry Ramos Allup, leader of Democratic Action (AD), who has distanced himself from the political madness carried out by his candidate, Carlos Prosperi, who threatened not to recognize the elections. despite barely reaching the support of 4% of Venezuelans. The rest of the candidates, who covered the entire political spectrum, did not even reach 1% of the votes.

“Errors, arrogance, exclusion, tripping and inconsistencies delegitimized the Unity. People voted massively for a change of leadership,” acknowledged Freddy Guevara, leader of Voluntad Popular (VP), the only one of the four major parties that supported the Machado at the polls.

One of the keys to the electoral success of this outsider, who constantly struck from within anti-Chavismo against her fellow members, is that she has managed to create an emotional bond that in the most popular neighborhoods is reminiscent of the one established with Hugo Chávez in his first triumph back in 1998. Petare, Catia or Antímano came out to vote against all odds, against gases and against intimidation.

The statistical comparison of Sunday’s citizen milestone with the other primaries held by the opposition in 2012, which were carried out with all the logistics provided by the National Electoral Council (CNE) and with total media coverage, prohibited this Sunday, amplifies the dimension of Machado’s victory. So Henrique Capriles, who contested the presidential elections that year against Chávez and those in 2013 against Maduro, obtained 1,923,000 supports (64.3%), a figure very similar to that projected for Machado when a good part of the scrutiny is still missing.

“In the midst of a national picture marked by a massive rejection of the political establishment in general, greater than 70%, many Venezuelans perceive Machado as an honest, brave and consistent woman with her political positions. This weighs heavily when voters are eager for cling to a new hope. María Corina capitalized on a good part of that protest,” stressed analyst Jesús Seguías, head of Datincorp.

The already standard-bearer of the unitary opposition took advantage of her first post-election day to make her priorities very clear. Machado met with relatives of political prisoners and victims of the dictatorship: “They are my absolute priority,” she assured them. According to the Penal Forum, 267 political prisoners remain in Maduro’s dungeons, after the release of six of them last week favored by the Barbados Accords.

The US maintains an ultimatum, which expires at the end of November, for the revolution to release the American prisoners and a good part of the Venezuelans, in addition to making progress in the withdrawal of disqualifications, especially that of Machado.

And all this while the information siege on the leader of Vente Venezuela is still maintained, whose interviews are banned on radio and television.