What did Maduro say about Machado’s meeting with Blinken?

The government rejected the support expressed this Tuesday by the US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, to the leader of the Democratic Unitary Platform (PUD), Edmundo González Urrutia, and María Corina Machado, to whom he promised that Washington “will continue to defend the return to democracy” in the country.

Venezuelan Foreign Minister Yván Gil said that Blinken “is clinging to a (Juan) Guaidó part two who fled and abandoned his people, plunging them into a new failure,” alluding to González Urrutia’s exile in Spain, where he arrived on September 8 after requesting asylum due to the persecution he reported having suffered in his country following the July 28 elections.

After the presidential elections, in which the PUD claims that its standard-bearer won, the Government usually refers to González Urrutia as “Guaidó 2.0”, who did compete in an election, unlike the former deputy, who proclaimed himself “interim president” of Venezuela in 2019.

In a message shared on Telegram, Gil urged Blinken to “face the reality” that in Venezuela, with “President Nicolás Maduro Moros, peace triumphed.”

“The Bolivarian people are victoriously building their destiny and will crush the brutality of the arrogant, lying and swindling politicians, who, in alliance with criminals, seek to divert us from the path of prosperity that we have consolidated,” said the foreign minister.

On Tuesday, in a call with both opposition leaders, Blinken also said he would “work to ensure that the will of Venezuelan voters is respected and hold President Maduro accountable,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said in a statement.

The Secretary of State also praised the “courage and commitment” of González Urrutia – whom the United States recognizes as the winner of the elections – and of Machado “to democratic principles in the face of brutal repression.”.