Comment on this storyCommentAdd to your saved storiesSave
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuelans on Sunday nominated conservative opposition leader María Corina Machado to challenge authoritarian President Nicolás Maduro in what his government has promised will be a competitive, internationally monitored presidential election next year.
The next obstacle she must overcome: a state ban that currently prevents her from running.
Machado, a 56-year-old industrial engineer and former lawmaker, won a landslide victory in the opposition’s first presidential primary in more than a decade, choosing a single candidate to unite behind. Initial reports suggest an unusually high voter turnout in an unofficial vote that was not supported by the government.
Maduro and the Venezuelan opposition agree to a freer election in 2024
Machado, a long-time critic of the government – she was once mocked by Hugo Chávez, the founder of the socialist state of Venezuela – was banned from holding public office for 15 years.
But across the country — and in the diaspora of millions of people abroad, many of whom fled the faltering economy here — there were signs of hope. Venezuelans waited in long lines for hours to cast their votes.
23-year-old María Victoria Ramos waited four hours with her six-year-old to vote in the municipality of Libertador, west of Caracas.
“You can see it everywhere; People are determined to put an end to this,” she said. “My son keeps asking me why we are here waiting for so many hours and I just tell him this is our chance for a better president.
“María Corina is that person.”
Government and opposition leaders agreed last week on terms for elections in the second half of 2024. The Biden administration rewarded the government the next day with an easing of sanctions against Venezuela’s oil, gas and gold industries.
Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken said the United States has “expressed our expectation and understanding” that Maduro will establish before the end of November “a specific timeline and process for the expedited reinstatement of all” candidates in the upcoming elections, including “all “those who want to run for president next year” on “a level playing field.”
The U.S. Treasury Department has issued a general license allowing U.S. companies to engage in long-term transactions, primarily in the government-controlled energy sector. The license will be valid for six months and will only be renewed if the authoritarian socialist government “fulfills its obligations” in elections and “with regard to those who are unjustly imprisoned”.
After the electoral agreement, the US is easing sanctions on Venezuelan oil, gas and gold
In an agreement signed in Barbados on Tuesday, Maduro’s government committed to allowing all parties to select their candidates, giving all campaigns fair access to the media and allowing international observers to monitor the vote.
The government did not promise to lift the bans on several of the most popular opposition candidates. But a person familiar with the negotiations, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly, said the government had set a clear path for the rehabilitation of all candidates, including Machado, by the end of November.
If the government doesn’t move forward, the oil and gas license will expire in April. The U.S. could pull a “yellow card” beforehand, the person said — and a “red card” in April.
Sunday’s vote was the first since 2012 to elect a consensus opposition candidate. That year, Henrique Capriles was chosen to challenge then-President Chávez.
Capriles lost to Chávez in 2012 and to Maduro in 2013 in a special election after Chávez’s death.
Ahead of Sunday’s vote, polls showed Machado leading a field of 10 opposition candidates despite her disqualification.
Over the past decade, more than 7 million Venezuelans – a quarter of the population – have fled hunger, insecurity and official repression in the socialist state. Venezuelans abroad cast their votes at 80 polling stations in more than 20 countries – “an extremely important bloc in deciding the outcome,” said David Smolansky, Machado’s Washington-based diaspora coordinator.
Social media was abuzz with videos of Venezuelans across Latin America, North America, Europe and Australia, some dressed in coats or hats with the red, yellow and blue colors of the national flag, waiting to cast their votes.
In Madrid, 60-year-old Delia Pérez, who left Venezuela five years ago, said the vote had “filled her with hope that one day Venezuela will be free again.”
“Just six months ago, the outlook in Venezuela seemed bleak,” Smolansky said. “We grieved and felt hopeless, but today we are experiencing a resurrection. We know the road ahead will be challenging, but we are ready to take it on.”
Once reinstated, Machado’s next challenge will be to unite a historically fragmented opposition. Their political goals – such as privatizing the lucrative state-owned oil industry – veer further to the right than many others in the movement. If she fails To to run in next year’s presidential election, another opposition candidate could insist on replacing her.
“Having won the primary, Machado has every right to insist on running,” said Geoff Ramsey, a senior fellow at the Washington-based Atlantic Council who focuses on Venezuela. “The thing is, Maduro will almost certainly play dirty. If she ultimately cannot run, she will need to work with the rest of the opposition to find a realistic alternative.”
Maduro’s government dismissed Sunday’s vote as fraudulent.
“Who will believe them? Where are they going to get credibility?” asked lawmaker and former Vice President Diosdado Cabello, one of the most influential people in the government, during his weekly television broadcast. “They are liars, they manipulate, they don’t care at all. We already have the results.”
David Smilde, a sociologist at Tulane University who studies Venezuela, said the vote was a success given the logistical and political challenges.
“Beyond voter turnout, the primary process did what primaries were supposed to do: force politicians to get closer to the people, generate excitement and drive change,” he said. “This process has achieved all of that and revitalized an opposition that seemed to be in hibernation just a year ago.”
Schmidt reported from Buenos Aires. Paul reported from Washington.