The phenomenon María Corina is going through deep Venezuela these days, the one that supported the revolution a long time ago and now wants to get rid of it. “I don’t care if I arrive on Monday and they tell me that I’m fired (fired). We are restored (we risk it) with you!”, bellowed one of the attendees at the rally of María Corina Machado, favorite candidate for the scheduled opposition primaries for October. The right-wing leader handed over the microphone to her follower, who had come from the ranks of the revolution, amid her general enthusiasm, at a rally with thousands of people, not seen for years in depressed and jaded Venezuela.
Machado, always in white, with the motto “Hasta el final” written on his back and a cross on his chest, has restored to the opposition the popular fervor lost due to their internal battles but, above all, due to their defeat before the all-powerful revolution. bolivarian. On Saturday it filled the streets of the llanera city of Valera, Chavista until recently. “The number of people who approach and are part of the structures of Chavismo, even from the bases of the (government party) PSUV, are revealing for me,” said the leader of Vente Venezuela, who tries to moderate her most extreme political positions in looking for a kind of liberal center.
The crowd and enthusiasm surprised almost everyone, but not the Miraflores Palace, which has prepared a quick response to the opponent’s advance. At the head of the revolutionary operation appears an obscure character, Luis Ratti, who announced on Saturday that he will demand the immediate disqualification of Machado “for having requested the TIAR (Inter-American Treaty of Reciprocal Assistance), the sanctions and the blockade. And also request investigations of the source of his campaign funds.
Ratti, a chavismo operator from the shadows, also points to Machado for “calling for violence and abstention, leading Venezuela to chaos and crisis.” This character, who was in charge of the Bolivarian Front with Hugo Chávez but who in 2018 supported Henry Falcón in the presidential elections, thus culminates two intense weeks, during which he has resorted to the Supreme Court of Justice (TSJ), the Comptroller’s Office and the Council National Electoral (CNE) to hinder the march of the opposition primaries, to which he swears and perjures that he wants to present.
In reality, it is one of the tricks of the ruling party to get the candidate who bothers them the most out of the game or even terminate the primary process itself, which already suffered a strong blow last week: the resignation and dismissal of the rectors of the CNE only days after an agreement was reached for the electoral referee to provide technical assistance to the internal votes of the opposition.
“The dynamics that are observed around the candidate in her tours evoke to the madurismo the popular rise of Chávez in 97-98. They see a phenomenon of a similar nature. That scares them. They better hurry to disqualify her before that it is too late”, confirms from exile Andrés Izarra, a former minister very close to the “supreme commander” in his day.
Machado was disabled until five years ago, like so many opposition leaders. Despite this, the Comptroller’s Office has not communicated to the CNE the end of that disqualification.
The polls also confirm the unstoppable rise of Machado, who with 57% of support far surpasses the comedian El Conde del Guácharo, with 19%. The candidates of the new opposition majority barely manage to get close to 19% between all of them, while Freddy Superlano, substitute for the exiled Juan Guaidó, barely has 5% of the votes, according to the polling company Poder y Estrategia.
According to the criteria of The Trust Project