Machado urged to increase pressure on Maduro
Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado on Wednesday urged the international community to increase pressure on Nicolás Maduro to resign.
Machado has been living in hiding in his country since August, after denouncing fraud in the July presidential elections.
Maduro claimed to have won those elections, but the opposition insists that its candidate, Edmundo González Urrutia – currently exiled in Spain – was the one who won by a large majority.
After Maduro’s re-election was announced, protests broke out that left 27 dead and at least 2,400 detained accused of “terrorism.”
«We need the international community and international justice to act» and hold Maduro and other Venezuelan officials accountable, Machado declared in English, addressing a conference in Prague, capital of the Czech Republic.
Machado transmitted this message two days after winning the Václav Havel prize from the Council of Europebeing the first Latin American to obtain this award that recognizes actions in defense of human rights.
The opposition leader urged the international community to increase pressure on Maduro’s pillars of power, including the army and police.
«We must let them know that they will be held accountable.«he declared.
Machado added that the world must continue to recognize Urrutia as the elected president and help cut off “illicit financial resources” to Maduro.
«These come from drug trafficking. They come from illegal mining and gold smuggling and even human trafficking,” he said, noting that “European countries can do a lot to help close those flows immediately.”
The opposition added that Western powers must give priority to Venezuela since “This tragedy goes far beyond (its) borders«.
“The regime is destabilizing the entire region,” Machado insisted, adding that it is opening the doors for countries like Russia, Iran, Cuba or Syria to exert influence in Latin America.
«Maduro has never been as weak and isolated as now and we need to put more pressure on him because this is the opportunity we have been fighting for for two and a half decades,” he added.
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