María Corina Machado has been barred from holding public office for 15 years following a decision by Venezuela's Supreme Court
Argentina, Uruguay and Ecuador condemned on Saturday (January 27, 2024) the decision of the Supreme Court of Venezuela that upheld the 15year ban of María Corina Machado, main opponent of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.
Corina won the opposition primaries in October 2023 and will face Maduro in this year's presidential election, the date of which has not yet been set. The US also announced that it would consider sanctions against the South American country following the veto.
The State Department said it was monitoring the situation in Venezuela with “concern.” In a note he regrets the decision to veto Corina. Here is the full text (PDF 157 kB, in Spanish).
The Foreign Ministry said the Venezuelan court's decision contradicted Barbados' agreements. Here is the full text (PDF 271 kB, in Spanish).
On X (formerly Twitter) the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Human Mobility rejected the Supreme Court's decision against Maduro's opponents.
The Paraguayan government expressed “concern” about the electoral process in Venezuela and, without mentioning Corina by name, mentioned the need to “carry out free, transparent presidential elections with the participation of all candidates.”
The Idea group (Democratic Initiative of Spain and America), made up of 37 former presidents of the region, condemned Corina's veto. They also announced that they recognized his political leadership in the Venezuelan elections. Here is the full letter (PDF 920 kB, in Spanish).
Read the list of signatories:
- Mario Abdo, former president of Paraguay;
- Óscar Arias, former president of Costa Rica;
- José Maria Aznar, former president of Spain;
- Nicolás Ardito, former president of Panama;
- Felipe Calderón, former president of Mexico;
- Rafael Angel Calderón, former president of Costa Rica;
- Laura Chinchilla, former president of Costa Rica;
- Alfredo Cristiani, former president of El Salvador;
- Iván Duque, former president of Colombia;
- Vicente Fox, former president of Mexico;
- Federico Franco, former president of Paraguay;
- Eduardo Frei, former president of Chile;
- Lucio Gutiérrez, former president of Ecuador;
- Osvaldo Hurtado, former president of Ecuador;
- Luis Alberto Lacalle, former president of Uruguay;
- Guilherme Lasso, former president of Ecuador;
- Carlos Mesa, former president of Bolivia;
- Ernesto Férez, former president of Panama;
- Mauricio Macri, former president of Argentina;
- Jamil Mahuad, former president of Ecuador;
- Lenin Moreno former President of Ecuador;
- Mireya Moscoso former President of Panama;
- Andrés Pastrana former President of Colombia;
- Sebastián Piñera former President of Chile;
- Jorge Tugo former President of Bolivia;
- Miguel Ángel, former president of Costa Rica;
- Luis Guillermo former President of Costa Rica;
- Álvaro Uribe former President of Colombia;
- Juan Carlos former President of Paraguay.