“We have a robust strategy and it is working”
Opposition leader MarÃa Corina Machado arrived this Wednesday, August 28, one month after the presidential elections, to the Concentration called for on Francisco de Miranda Avenuein Caracas, to protest against the ruling of the Supreme Court of Justice (TSJ) which validated the controversial victory announced by President Nicolás Maduro’s electoral body.
Despite the persecution and threats, Machado went along with other leaders such as Delsa Solórzano, Juan Pablo Guanipa and César Pérez Vivas to the rally at the Lido shopping center, where hundreds of Venezuelans had been waiting since early in the morning.
«Despite everything we have experienced in recent days, here we are today, standing, brave. Each one of you speaks today for the thousands of persecuted Venezuelans, who will be free because this force is unstoppable. We have completed one month since we have had a new president elected: Edmundo González. It is a difficult time and we knew it, but in this month we have managed to turn the cause of Venezuela into a global cause,» the opposition leader told those present.
He assured that “Not a single democratic government in the world has recognized Maduro’s fraud. We have managed to expand our alliance. Even the witnesses of Chavismo know the truth and do not want to be accomplices in a robbery.
Maria Corina Machado asks to trust the opposition’s strategy
Regarding the TSJ ruling, which confirmed Maduro’s victory without taking into account the minutes presented by the opposition that gave González Urrutia the victory by a wide margin, MarÃa Corina Machado said: “It backfired. They believed that with that ruling someone would recognize them, but nobody accepted that trick. Today the world recognizes the truth: the people of Venezuela voted for change and González Urrutia is our president-elect.«.
He said that as an opposition they have a robust strategy that is working, so he called on the people to remain calm and not to despair as the days go by.
«We have a robust strategy and it is working“They say that the regime will not give in, but we are going to make it give in and that means accepting the will of the Venezuelan people,” he said.
“We made history and now it’s time to collect.” Those who say that time is on the regime’s side are wrong. Quite the opposite. With each passing day, they are becoming more isolated. “They have become toxic and we are moving forward. There is no need to be on the streets every day. We are in the communities every day. There, the comanditos have the great task of communicating with us and telling the truth,” he added.
MarÃa Corina Machado also sent a message to the Armed Forces: “They know the truth and it is the Plan República that has safeguarded the material. They know very well what they have to do in compliance with the Constitution. This is what Venezuela and the world expects.”
Thousands of Venezuelans gathered in Caracas one month before the presidential elections
In Caracas, Venezuelans responded to the call of the Democratic Unitary Platform (PUD) raising banners with messages calling for a peaceful transition, as demanded by Machado and the opposition bloc’s standard-bearer.
Other banners carry the slogan of the call, “Act kills sentence,” in relation to 83.5% of these documents that the PUD says it collected through witnesses and table members on the night of the elections, and which, they insist, demonstrate Maduro’s defeat, despite the official result, which was validated by the TSJ.
For the publication of the minutes, The Prosecutor’s Office is investigating González Urrutia for alleged commission of usurpation of functions and forgery of public documents, among other crimesdespite the fact that the records have been validated by international monitoring groups, such as the UN panel of experts, who were invited to participate in the elections.
Machado is appearing in public for the fourth time in Caracas following the July 28 elections, a day since which she has remained under cover – as she herself confirmed shortly afterwards – out of fear for her safety following the post-election protests, which left 25 dead and more than 2,400 arrested, according to authorities.
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